FINAL FANTASY SEVEN: CRISIS FROM THE SKY
by B-Man1
Summary: On Hiatus indefinetly now that FFVII: Advent Chilren has been announced. The sequel movie to FF7.
1. The Kalm Before The Storm

ONE: "The Kalm Before the Storm"  
  
Cloud wiped his brow as he stuck his shovel into the loose dirt. He looked around at his surroundings and marveled at just how much work had gone into Midgar and the surrounding area. Where once there lay seemingly useless shrapnel, now bloomed brightly with lush green trees and flowers of all shapes and sizes. Overhead the sky was clear; a pleasant change from what it could have been if things had not changed so drastically within the past year and a half. At that time, Cloud would have never believed that anywhere around Midgar would ever look so alive, especially not with only a years worth of work put into the area. He sighed then took his shovel and began to get back to work.  
  
For just over a year now, Cloud has helped with the restoration efforts of Midgar. Ever since the Lifestream came that day, the land where not long ago nothing lived, became very fertile once more. The survivors of the incident thought it necessary to help put a little back into what they had taken away from the planet. With a little guidance from the new Shinra Corporation; headed by the only remaining heir to the company, Reeve, they decided to rebuild what was left of Midgar into a newer, safer Neo-Midgar. This new Midgar would be a place of agriculture and mako creation rather than the previous efficient planet killer. Since this was such an undertaking, many people from all over the world decided to head to Midgar to lend their services to the project. Midgar was not yet ready to become a fully equipped dwelling again; so in no time at all, the small town of Kalm became a base of operations for the project. Not everyone could stay in Kalm either, so every week the workers would shift. If you weren't staying at Kalm and working on the restoration project, you were resting up at Junon Harbor, not too far from there if you traveled by boat.  
  
The sun was starting to set and everyone was beginning to settle down for the night. Cloud was no different; it was hard, tiring work and Cloud was feeling it. He had finally fulfilled his dream of bettering the Great Sephiroth, yet even with all of the strength he had acquired, he was at his end. Perhaps it was because he had no reason to fight anymore, or perhaps it was because he had been on site since day one. He refused to change over when the work squads switched hands. His friends were becoming worried for his health, but they could not stop him as hard as they would try.  
  
It was beginning to get late; the caravan had already arrived to pick up the workers and was transporting them back to Kalm town for the night. Cloud looked back, watching the silhouette of Midgar sink beneath the horizon. After a while he began to find himself thinking about Aeris; he always would end up with her on his mind, like her image was engraved into his very essence. Cloud would often find himself thinking of how he could have told her his true feelings; he had decided that perhaps his gondola ride at the Golden Saucer would have been the perfect setting. Aeris had already begun to show him how she felt, but he was afraid. He told her nothing, and because he withheld his feelings, she never knew how much he had truly loved her.  
  
Time passed quickly and the Caravan pulled into Kalm town. The workers disbanded for the night and Cloud immediately took off for the tavern beneath the markets. That hovel had become a sort of makeshift 'Seventh Heaven' and was the place where Tifa and Barret called their home until Neo-Midgar was complete. Cloud entered and walked up to the bar where he was warmly greeted by Tifa.  
  
"Cloud, welcome back." She said with a smile. "What's wrong with you? You look terrible."  
  
Cloud scratched his head. "I'm fine." He took a seat on a bar as he continued. "I was busy helping the landscape crew with Sector Three all day."  
  
"Thirsty then?"  
  
"Give me something hard."  
  
Tifa pulls out a glass and fills it with some form of liquor and sets it down in front of Cloud. "I'll give you something hard alright, if you don't start taking it easy on this whole Neo-Midgar project - my boot!"  
  
Cloud took a drink and set the glass back down on the counter. "I've told you - "  
  
Tifa interrupted his speech, "- I'll stop working on Midgar when there is something more important to do." Tifa said, mocking Cloud's voice playfully. "The only thing you want is more fighting, Cloud."  
  
"Maybe I do."  
  
Tifa shook her head knowing all to well this very argument. Cloud picked up his mug and was about to take another drink when Barret come barging in out of the backroom. He looked around inquisitively and then sets his sights on Cloud.  
  
"Damn, you'd better give that spiky headed ass o' yours a shake and lissen' to the girl." Barret announced to Cloud in his own psudo-ebonic language.  
  
Cloud looked puzzled. "Shake my 'spiky headed ass'?" Cloud said to himself not quite understanding the context.  
  
"You've been goin' on about the same damn problem ever since the idea for Neo-Midgar was even announced; and I'm not listenin' to it anymore."  
  
Tifa put her hands on her hips. "Barret's right, Cloud. You need to stop and think about yourself."  
  
Barret slapped Cloud on the back with his good hand. "Your wearin' yourself out."  
  
Cloud pushed himself away from the bar and stood up. "I don't care about wearing myself out. I don't want to think about myself. The last time I gave up and was stuck on myself, people died!" Cloud yelled out.  
  
Some other people at the other end of the bar look over at him. Tifa steadily grew more impatient as Cloud spoke on. "This is not about Aeris!!" She exclaimed.  
  
Cloud backed off, wide eyed with anger. Barret tried to stop him, but Cloud shrugged off his advances and stormed out of the tavern into the rapidly decreasing sunlight. Tifa and Barret exchanged glances. Tifa sighed as she came out from behind the bar and slowly followed Cloud out the door.  
  
Not seeing him at first, she looked around until she spotted his unique hair sticking up over the edge of the Kalm well. She found it puzzling how he managed to climb atop it without a ladder or rope. Then she remembered who she was dealing with and decided not to think to much about it. After a moment she found a stable foothold and began to climb up to the top of the well, getting about halfway up before getting her skirt caught on a protruding splinter of wood. Frazzled, she looked down in disbelief at her situation. Attempting to yank her clothing off of the protrusion, she inadvertently let go of what she was hanging onto, in order to prevent a public showing of her more secluded areas, before finally breathing a sigh of relief - only to have her weight snap the board she was standing on. Not being that far off of the ground in the first place, she tensed her body for the fall onto her rear end. Slowly getting to her feet, she realized that she had broken her only way up to talk with Cloud. So instead, she beckoned up to him.  
  
"Cloud?"  
  
A few seconds passed in silence. Cloud spoke: "Go away."  
  
Tifa sighed and brushed the dirt from her butt. "Listen, I'm sorry. I lost my temper.... I'm just looking out for you... that's what friends do!"  
  
"Your still not right, Tifa." Cloud replied in his usual droll tone.  
  
"Huh?" She could see Cloud moving atop the well; his spiky blonde hair waving in the breeze. The air suddenly chilled, night had settled. Cloud shifted to the side of the well and peered over his shoulder to Tifa below. "This is about Aeris." He said reluctantly. "I failed her."  
  
"No you didn't Cloud... you've never let anyone down."  
  
"I promised Aeris that I would protect her, but when she really needed me I did nothing..."  
  
Tifa walked around the front of the well, dragging her shoes in the dirt. "Aeris did what she had to do to save us, Cloud. I thought we had been over this."  
  
"I know, but even so.... I can't help but know I could have done something to save her."  
  
"So what does this have to do with you now? Why are you destroying yourself in order to 'be useful'?"  
  
"I'm a soldier Tifa, that's what I was trained to be. That's what I've devoted my entire life to. Protecting and defending those that need it. What is there for me now, huh? I have no use.... I need to be useful or else there is no point in even living."  
  
"I know your not that cold-blooded, Cloud Strife - And even if you weren't useful, you're still our friend. You're a friend to almost everyone whose met you. You did save the planet. You go on about how you can't contribute anything to anyone, yet you work day and night helping to restore Midgar." She looked at the ground and took a deep breath of the crisp night air. "If you continue on this way you won't be useful at all... because you'll be too dead to help."  
  
"I'm not going to die, Tifa." Cloud mocked the idea.  
  
"Have you looked at yourself recently? You look terrible. We're very worried about you."  
  
Cloud answered in silence.  
  
"You feel badly for not saving Aeris." Tifa forced herself to continue, knowing what she would say next could give away more than she was willing to let Cloud know. "I would feel the same way if you were to die and I did nothing to help you, even though I could have. Do you understand, Cloud?"  
  
Cloud played around with the idea in his mind for a moment. Feeling a bit better about himself, his sadness diminished and was soon down on the ground beside Tifa. Cloud looked as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. "Thanks Tifa."  
  
"Cloud...."  
  
"What?" Cloud looked at her. He saw that she wanted to say something, but couldn't. He understood what she was feeling, he had for a long time, but he wasn't going to let her know anytime soon. Bottling up true intentions inside was something familiar to him, and all too well understood. Cloud figured that when she was ready, she would tell him herself. "Tifa?"  
  
"It's nothing, I guess." She replied. She was amazed at how clueless Cloud was in perceiving her true feelings, even when she blatantly gave them away. She wondered how any person could be so blind to love; except that of his own. "Let's go back inside... it's beginning to get cold out here." Tifa said as she rubbed her arms. Cloud put his arm around her as they walked back into the bar.  
  
The next day came and Cloud awoke with a start. A new will to do something exciting was fresh in his mind. He walked outside to catch the Caravan to Midgar. Tifa watched as he walked out into the street with a sense of ease, no longer that worried for her best friend. As workers in the caravan beckoned Cloud to hurry up he calmly announced that he wasn't going to be working on the project anymore, at least for a while. The driver agreed and took off in the direction of the construction site, Cloud in it's wake.  
  
Tifa, puzzled, made her way through the street over to Cloud. He turned around to meet her.  
  
"Cloud, your not going to Midgar today?" She inquired.  
  
"No, I've decided to take a trip."  
  
"A trip? So spontaneously? Where are you going?" Tifa questioned again.  
  
"I'm not sure. Wherever I end up, I guess."  
  
"When??" Tifa asked, trying to mask any worry in her voice.  
  
"Well I was planning on leaving pretty soon." Cloud said with a slight grin and a gleam in his mako-radiated blue eyes.  
  
Tifa sighed. "I suppose this has something to do with our breakthrough yesterday?"  
  
"Maybe. I'm not sure. I just want to see the world again."  
  
Cloud turned on his heel and began to walk away. Tifa looked back at the bar; Barret walked out of the door in his sailor suit, which he now used as pajamas, and scratched his butt. She turned back to face Cloud again. The thought of going with Cloud began to loom in her mind. Questions like 'Will he be alright?' and 'Will he ever come back?' were the majority of them. She took one last look at the bar before racing after Cloud, a smile etching its way across her face. 


	2. Strife Over The Horizon

TWO: "Strife over the Horizon"  
  
The early morning sun was beaming overhead as Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart made their way across the endless expanse of lush fields that was now the Midgar area. Above, an endless blue filled the skyscape, massive nimbus clouds checkering the view. Cloud was concentrating on holding a map steady, while Tifa just walked along behind him; casually taking in the scenery. After the events of the past year, she had found she had a new appreciation for life, no longer taking for granted the beauty nature offered. She took a deep breath and sighed pleasantly as a breeze raced through the valley, rustling the grass in what seemed like waves.  
  
It had only been an hour an a half or so since they had left Kalm town. Cloud hadn't said much of anything. He was still busy concentrating on navigating the seemingly infinite world that he hadn't paid any attention to Tifa, tagging along with him. Tifa on the other hand, was constantly trying to thinking of something to talk with Cloud about on their long haul. She had only decided on a whim to venture out into the world with Cloud again and was beginning to have second thoughts.  
  
"Where are you heading, anyway?" She broke the silence, though she had only meant to think it.  
  
"I'm heading for the Chocobo Ranch; then I plan on a trip to Junon." Cloud replied, then added, "Where are you heading?" testing Tifa's sense of humor.  
  
"I'm going wherever you go, don't try and get me to leave now." She replied with a threatening grin.  
  
"Don't worry, your welcome to come along. I'm not even sure why I'm walking through this field myself..." Cloud thought for a moment. "I just know I should be."  
  
Another long while passed, Tifa and Cloud marched along, talking about various things.  
  
"..... So that's what I liked about you, when I first met you."  
  
Tifa laughed. "Really? I'm flattered, I didn't think anyone noticed! Why wait until now to tell me about that?"  
  
Cloud grinned a bit. "Well, it is a bit embarrassing especially talking about it with other people around."  
  
"Yeah, I guess your right." She replied shyly, grabbing some of the long grass growing all around them and wrapping it around her finger.  
  
Tifa was now walking closely behind Cloud and almost skipping. She was intensely happy that Cloud was actually beginning to talk with her instead of conversing in his usual one-word answers. Cloud was much less antisocial recently; that night outside the Highwind just before the raid on the Northern Crater and Sephiroth had really opened Cloud's personality.  
  
"Cloud, do you find it odd how we have yet to encounter any monsters on this trip?" Tifa looked around the fields, attempting to locate any other life around them. "I mean, there should at least be some around, right?"  
  
"I know, I've been wondering the same thing myself. It looks like I brought along my sword for nothing."  
  
Tifa furled her brow. "Don't say things like that Cloud. The next thing you know we'll end up fighting something, again."  
  
Cloud stopped and let her catch up a bit. "You said it yourself, Tifa. 'All I want is more fighting'."  
  
Tifa rolls her eyes as she stops by his side.  
  
They both look off towards the horizon; the Chocobo Ranch just coming into the range of their vision. By then it was just about noon and both of them were beginning to feel quite hungry, especially since neither of them had eaten any breakfast before they left. So they hastened their pace to the Ranch, playfully running through the tall grass encompassing the area around the farm. The strong winds raced by them, but didn't slow them down at all. They seemed to ride on it, moving over it in one perfect, fluid motion. Cloud's hair whipped back in the wind, bobbing up in down in sync with his running. Tifa, trailing behind him, studied him as she fought to stay close. The amount of change Cloud had gone through in the past year was inspiring. A once selfish, cold-hearted mercenary had metamorphosed into a respected, kind and loving man that she now shared her life with. It was as if his spirit had been freed from a black burden unfairly placed upon it.  
  
Cloud glanced over his shoulder to see if Tifa was keeping up with him. He knew he could run faster than her and that his stamina was nearly unmatched on the planet. He smiled wryly to himself and returned to his stride; seeing how much longer Tifa could hold his pace.  
  
Tifa smiled herself, seeing Cloud check up on her. He knew she was strong, she always had been, and she wasn't going give up. As she ran she looked him over again. She could see his newfound freedom manifest itself physically in him. Although he still bore his navy mercenary clothes, he radiated a friendly air around him. He had let his hair grow out a little and no longer kept it impeccably styled. Instead of being so perfectly structured and disciplined, as his life once was, it now hung more relaxed, more carefree. More alive. As they ran, she continued to gaze at him, before reflecting once more, her smile fading. True, Cloud talked freely to her and smiled every once in a while, he even seemed happy when around his friends, but at what price? This transformation had healed his soul, but not before it had thrust his life into anarchy, not before he fell, not before he broke. His smile, his laughter, what it had cost him was something no one should ever have had to go through. In order for him to be free from his internal bondage he had to take the weight of the world onto his shoulders. The sheer responsibility of that alone was something no average man could bare. The lives of everyone forced into his hands, the walls of his life coming crashing down around him, the repressed truth about himself, his near death experience in the Lifestream, and worst of all, the loss of his one true love. A love so pure and innocent taken away from him before his very eyes.  
  
Tifa's pace dropped a bit when she realized this. The suffering that Cloud had gone through, the complete abandonment, the hopelessness, the pain; nobody could take that and survive, yet Cloud still fought. He pulled through for humanity, for the planet and for his friends, all because he felt he owed it to everyone else. Tifa's mind retraced itself back to the City of the Ancients where they had finally found Aeris. How Cloud seen her life stolen away by the black-hearted monster he once strived to be. She could remember standing with the gang, just inside the building that had housed Aeris' last moments of life. They had all agreed in an unspoken gesture to leave Cloud alone, let him deal with this on his own, how he wanted it. She could remember seeing Cloud solemnly place Aeris into the reflecting pool outside. It was that moment that Cloud became dead on the inside. It took the death of the one ray of light he could hold onto to finally break him. The few precious gifts life had given him were gone. He was left with nothing; empty. No will, no soul, no hope. Yet here they all were, and all because of him.  
  
She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. Cloud still raced onward ahead of her with his unprecedented vigor. It was only then that she truly realized how much strength Cloud possessed. Everybody knew how physically strong Cloud was, but Tifa could see passed that, see what a pillar of truth Cloud was. He was warrior. He was a friend. He was a savior.  
  
Cloud slid to a stop in the dirt of the Chocobo Ranch's driveway and faced Tifa with a warm look in his eyes. She trotted up to his side a second later, and looked up at his face. "Couldn't beat me, could you?" He sneered.  
  
Tifa, panting, paused a moment, still looking up at him, "No..." she smiled "I can't beat you." Reminding herself of what Cloud truly was, a hero. In no time at all, they found themselves within the Ranch house; they had already had a meal with Choco Billy and his father, Choco Bill, and they had just rented a room for a quick break before they set out for their next destination, Junon Harbor.  
  
They both sat down on a bed together. Tifa fell limply backward and sighed as she struck the bed. She stretched her arms out and kicked her shoes off before sighing once more. "I miss the Highwind." She whined in a child's voice.  
  
"I don't," Cloud loosened the strap of one of his boots and pulled it off, "heights were never really my friend." He glanced back at Tifa and smiled at her, dropping his boot to the floor.  
  
Tifa smiled back and turned her gaze to the ceiling above. "Yeah, I guess that's understandable. You have fallen quite a far distance three separate times in your life."  
  
"It's amazing how I'm not dead yet, isn't it?" Cloud mimicked Tifa, falling limply backward onto the bed. He sighed and turned his head to face Tifa.  
  
"The sad thing is, it was kinda my fault you fell two outta the three times, you know?" Tifa sat up, remembering that she was beside him at Nibelheim and at the Mako Reactor when he plummeted several stories down.  
  
"It wasn't anything you did that made it your fault, not really." Cloud said as he placed his hands on his forehead and ran them through his thick hair from front to back.  
  
"Really?" Tifa questioned, thinking that she was the reason he had fell both times.  
  
"No, but I would have ended up falling for you any way I look at it." Cloud casually concurred.  
  
Tifa looked away from Cloud. Cloud's words had taken her completely by surprise. Her body tightened in an instant, shocked by that which had been said. It only took her a second to realize that what Cloud said and how she had interpreted it were two completely different contexts. The flashed thought of Cloud falling for her though was enough to warm her inside. She had long wished for Cloud to be more than just a friend, more than just a comrade in arms. So many nights had gone by with him sleeping only a room away, or right by her side, under the stars during their journeys, but she couldn't bring herself to ask if he returned the feelings. Cloud's mask was far too scarred for her to tell.  
  
But she liked the thought. She liked the idea of lazy mornings in bed with Cloud still asleep by her side. She couldn't help but blush a little. Cloud couldn't help but notice.  
  
"What?" he questioned.  
  
"What? It's nothing." Tifa shook her head, calming the redness of her cheeks.  
  
"You're turning red." Cloud pried.  
  
"It's nothing, God!" She snapped, getting up and walking into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Cloud had followed her with his eyes, stilling laying on the bed; perplexed by what had just happened and curious as to what she had been thinking.  
  
The sound of running water echoed in the small bathroom as Tifa turned the bathtub faucets on. She spun around to face herself in the mirror, something she hadn't done in a long time. It wasn't the gaze she gave herself when she wanted to know if her hair looked good, it was the kind of gaze that reflected her true self, her soul.  
  
'Look at me,' she said to herself, 'still daydreaming.' A small grin crept across her face as she gazed on at her reflection. 'Falling for one of my closest friends. how immature.' She pulled the ribbon from her hair and let it fall loosely around her knees. She ran her fingers through it and lead it over her shoulders before glancing over to the bathtub. It was filling slowly with the warm water she had turned on. Looking back at the mirror, she thought: 'Why do I feel this way? Why is it that I long for Cloud more than anything else on this planet, yet I can't even bring myself to say the words to him?' She sighed. 'Even I know it's not like me to keep my mouth shut.' A flash of braided hair and a pink dress sped through her mind. 'Aeris. everything always leads back to Aeris. How could I betray her memory like that? Cloud and her were far more than just infatuation.' A more solid image of Aeris formed in her mind. 'How could I take Cloud for my own, when he truly belonged to Aeris. It would be far too selfish of me.' She checked the water level of the tub once more and decided to turn off the taps.  
  
'She was so young and innocent. she was the last person in the world who deserved to die.' Aeris' bright turquoise eyes and playful laughter brought a smile to her face. It was then that she noticed her other reflection; the worn leather and scuffed metal of her gloves, her tarnished miniskirt, the tight white tank top she was famous for. 'No wonder Cloud doesn't return my feelings, I'm nothing like her.' She stripped her gloves, skirt and top off and sent them flying to the ground. Sliding into the warmth of the bath, her frustrations seemed to diminish.  
  
'I'll always love Cloud, but these feelings will pass.' She soaked her hair in the bathwater and let it float around her shoulders. 'I'll just live with it and deal like a mature person would. That's what Cloud did and he ended up saving the world.' She blinked and splashed some water on her face. 'Besides, it's not like I'm the first person to have a crush on him.' Priscilla popped into her head, the thought was enough to make her quietly laugh aloud.  
  
"You look happy." Cloud jested toward Tifa as she came strolling out of the bathroom. He had already geared up and was once again ready for the road.  
  
"Yeah, I really enjoyed that. I've been so busy with the bar and everybody helping with the Midgar Project that I haven't really had any 'me' time." She ran her fingers through her still damp hair and grabbed her shoes from the floor.  
  
"Did you have a bath?" He asked, suddenly interested in the subject.  
  
"Yes..." She smiled playfully, "Why?"  
  
"Last time we were here, Choco Bill told us the bathroom was out back and pointed to a outhouse... now he has a full working bathroom with a bathtub?"  
  
Tifa looked back into the bathroom, surprised she hadn't noticed. "I guess so." She shrugged and sat down on the bed to begin lacing up her boots. "If you wanna get us to Junon by tonight, we should take a Chocobo."  
  
"You're right. It's odd how accustomed you get to that irritating warking, I completely forgot about them." Cloud spoke aloud.  
  
Tifa looked at him strangely. "We stopped at the Chocobo Ranch and Chocobo's never once entered your mind?"  
  
"I must be losing it in my old age." Cloud smiled and walked out of the room.  
  
This day held more surprises for Tifa than she ever could have guessed. Not only were her and Cloud out journeying again, but Cloud actually cracked a joke. A funny one. She knotted her last lace and was up and out of the house to find Cloud already talking to Choco Bill.  
  
"Choco Bill, where's Boko? Tifa and I would like to rent him for awhile, but I don't see him in the pen or the stables."  
  
"Oh.. I.... uh..." Choco Bill took his hat off and wiped his brow before looking Cloud in the eyes. "You see, after Midgar was destroyed and the Weapons had attacked, a lot my Chocobo's had either ran off, got stolen or got killed..."  
  
"Uh-huh..." Cloud replied as Tifa arrived and stood by his side.  
  
"Well, things got a little tough and money got a little tight. Just when I was thinking I was going to have to close down my Chocobo Ranch that nice Dio fellow from the Golden Saucer came by and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. He said he was devastated to have lost at his own game and would pay anything to get his hands on such a fine bird." Choco Bill looked at Tifa then back Cloud before spreading the biggest smile on his face he could muster.  
  
"You sold my prize winning, Golden Chocobo to Dio?" Cloud said in monotone, trying to mask the anger that was building in him. "Boko helped me get Knights of Round, a powerful summon that helped me defeat Sephiroth. Technically, that bird helped save the world. and you sold him to Dio?"  
  
"Uh..." Choco Bill's smiling was struggling to stay afloat. "Well, it didn't come without a bright side. I got the new indoor bathroom, complete with a bathtub," he smiled at Tifa who was still damp from her bath. "And I restocked my Chocobo herd." He waved his hand over toward the Choco Pen beside them. "Oh! And best of all - you're gonna love this - lookie here."  
  
Choco Bill pointed up to a big gold plated sign that sat near the peak of the barn. The shimmering faces of Choco Bill and his son smiled down upon them with the slogan 'Choco's the Name, Chocobo's the Game' etched bellow them in all of its tacky glory. Tifa squinted in the sunlight up at it. Her face strained, ".. oh god.. that looks expensive." She cringed slightly and looked back to Cloud who still couldn't believe his eyes.  
  
"They're like fabled, and you sold him to Dio..."  
  
"Cloud, my good man, you saved the planet from the worst evil ever to walk it's lands; I think you deserve a free rental." Cloud looked coldly at him. "I'll, uh, go saddle him up."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
Cloud watched as Choco Bill trotted off to fetch a saddle from the barn. Just then Tifa spoke. "Well at least we're getting free Chocobo rides out of it."  
  
Choco Bill walked by with the saddle slung over his shoulder. "Actually, I said Free Rental, you guys are gonna have to share one or rent a second Chocobo."  
  
Tifa cut in before Cloud could even open his mouth. "Okay, sounds good. We'll share."  
  
The wind wiped by them at an almost deafening speed. Choco Bill's new Chocobo's definitely were an improvement over his old ones. Tifa sat in front of him, them both squeezed into the one saddle. Cloud had forgotten what it was like to be atop a Chocobo again; the freedom it emanated as they raced across the grass landscape towards the mountains in the distance. Tifa had managed to talk Choco Bill into giving them a Green Chocobo, allowing them to dash around the mountains through the shallower waters and avoid the dark caverns and the still present Midgar Zolom.  
  
The landscape raced by in a blur of greens and blossoming blues. The smell of the ocean could be found in the air, even though it were miles away to the east. Cloud took a deep breath and let the wind assault his body in an almost therapeutic way. After working on the Midgar Project for so long, it was rejuvenating to get away from the dirt, the machines, the caravan to and from Kalm. He looked directly in front of him to Tifa. She was one thing he didn't mind bringing along, despite the bend it put in his plan. He knew for sure that her reason for coming on the trip was to be with him. But what she didn't know was that half the reason he decided on taking the trip was to separate her from him. He figured that after being away from him for a few weeks, if her feelings were genuine, she would confess in him what she had wanted to say for so long. Cloud smiled to himself. He knew she would have found a way around his plan. His smile broadened; if anything Tifa was not the conventional type.  
  
"CLOUD!!" Tifa screamed, snapping him out of his thoughts. "HARD LEFT!!"  
  
Cloud instantly yanked the reins to the left, the changing momentum nearly sending them off saddle and several feet on to the ground. A mammoth sized Midgar Zolom shot out of the sandy earth beside them, arched, and dove straight back into it with a thundering boom. A dusty haze sprayed behind them as the Zolom emerged from the sand once more. Cloud had been so wrapped up in thought that he never bothered to change direction toward the coast, he had kept going straight and nearly entered the desert sands before the mountains; the nesting ground of the Midgar Zolom.  
  
The Chocobo was in full sprint, only inches from the grassy ground beneath it. Cloud looked back at the Zolom as it arched again, hundreds of feet in the air, blotting out the sun. It's body lunged back toward the ground once more, chasing them, it's jaws lashing out towards them. Cloud could barely believe his eyes. The Midgar Zolom had grown to more than twice its size since last he had fought it. Tifa looked wirily back at Cloud and then to the attacking beast beside them. "IT'S TOO FAST!" was all Cloud could make out of what she had screamed. The Zolom burst out of the yellowy blanket once more, only a few feet from their side and let out the most horrific scream Cloud has ever heard. It's liquid like agility was terrifying as it darted into the sky and lusted hungrily down towards them once more. Only a split second move on the Chocobo's part saved them from being lunch. Mere seconds before the Zolom's jaws would have descended upon them, the Chocobo sped left and leap dozens of feet into the air. Cloud held on to Tifa and she onto to Chocobo as the fierce wind ripped at their clothes. The impact of the Zolom diving back into the ground created a big enough disturbance in the air that Chocobo was able to ride the gust it generated far enough to get them to more solid earth. The sand beast returned to the depths of its small desert, unable to sense the vibrations from it's prey anymore.  
  
"The point of the Green Chocobo was to avoid to the mountains and the 200 foot worm!" Tifa yelled, upset by the events that had just transpired. They had stopped a mile from the coast, while riding along the mountains edge, away from the Zolom.  
  
"I know... but I still can't get over how big that Zolom was! There's no way it could have naturally grow to that size. It was so fast and blood thirsty.." Cloud trailed off, looking back over the horizon toward the sandy nesting grounds.  
  
"After all we've been through, I was actually scared for my life back there." Tifa looked at the small blue flowers on the ground that grew sporadically in this region.  
  
"That wasn't natural..." Cloud was still looking over the horizon.  
  
Several minutes passed in silence as they reflected on what had happened until Tifa finally broke the silence. "I think this guy deserves a medal." She walked over to the grazing Green Chocobo and put one hand on his harness, her other hand stroking the feathers under its eye. "Just what were you thinking about so hard that you forgot to turn to the ocean?"  
  
Cloud turned and opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. He closed his mouth and swallowed dryly.  
  
".. uh, we've only got about three hours of daylight left, if we're going to make it to Junon before dusk, we should really get moving."  
  
"Yeah..." was all Cloud could muster. They mounted the Chocobo once more and set off to the coast. Cloud hated this awkward silence that now hung in the air; Tifa was one of the very few people that he felt comfortable around. The waters edge was now in sight; he saw his opportunity to lighten the mood: "Tifa, do you, by chance, want some more 'me' time?" She paused for a moment, thinking, as the Chocobo's feet hit the sandy beach, full sprint. "What do you mean?"  
  
"You're about to have another bath!" Cloud laughed as the Green Chocobo hit the water full tilt and sent waves of cold ocean up and over their heads.  
  
The refreshing spree in the oceans water lightened the mood Cloud and Tifa had fallen into. In less than twenty minutes, the Chocobo had gotten them around the mountain range and back up onto dry land. There was nothing left now but the straight run to Cannon City, which would take the better part of an hour.  
  
Even on the opposite side of the continent, the effects of Midgar's halted Mako sucking could be seen. The once patchy forests were thickening up in less than a years time. The grassy fields were greener than ever before, and the wild blue flowers that grew in the Chocobo Ranch region were even spreading to the area. The moon was slowly rising up into the sky, despite the ample amount of sunlight still around them. Cloud decided to push the Chocobo a little harder.  
  
They arrive at the base of Junon in just under an hour. They slowed to a trot to relieve the strain on the Chocobo. Cloud jumped off, still clutching the reins in his hands and led them into the small village at Junon's gates. They could see all the lights on in the second story house just down the street, an old friend Cloud was worrying about seeing again. Tifa hopped down from the saddle and walked a few steps ahead of Cloud. He stopped the Chocobo and began unfastening the harness around its beak. "There you go. that's a little better." He wrapped it up and tied it to the saddle; ready to send the Chocobo back to the ranch on its own.  
  
"Hold him for a sec!" Tifa yelled, walking backwards before speeding into the village. Cloud watched on as she entered one of the first buildings with its lights on and came back out a moment later with a bag in her hands. "Here you go, Birdie." She dumped the bag of Gyshtal Greens at it's feet and watched him dig in. "You named him 'Birdie'? That's like naming an airship 'Plane'." Cloud announced.  
  
"You know, you're starting to get quite a mouth on you, Mr. Cloud Strife." Tifa replied, pointing a finger at Cloud. "Normally I'd be mad at a remark like that, but considering I used your money to buy those Greens Birdie is eating up, I don't feel so upset." She smiled smugly and walked past him, toward the bustling house down the street.  
  
Cloud stood motionless for a moment, soaking in what Tifa had said, before giving up and deciding not to debate with her. He sighed and strolled over to Birdie's side. "Normally I'd be mad that she did that, but you really deserved those Greens." He reached up and stroked the pale green feathers of the Chocobo's neck.  
  
"Of course he deserved them, he saved both our necks! They don't call them Man's Best Friend for nothing, you know." Tifa yelled back to Cloud.  
  
Cloud turned in dismay, "You work in a bar all your life and you're not even the slightest bit deaf."  
  
"Nope, and keep that in mind, mister." She pointed at him again from the stairway leading up to the illuminated house, smiling. Cloud returned the smile and headed towards her, them both climbing the stairs together.  
  
"About time!"  
  
Cloud and Tifa were greeted with an irate Barret at the door. "What do you mean? And why are you here?" Tifa sputtered.  
  
"I've been here all afternoon. It doesn't take no genius to figure out you two would end up here. And by the way, you guys could have told me you were gonna elope!"  
  
Barret's words nearly knocked Cloud off his feet. "We didn't elope!"  
  
"Yeah, we set out on a little trip!" Tifa added, shocked as well.  
  
"Thank god. I didn't think it was somethin' you two would do, but everyone in Kalm was all gossipin' about some talk you two had in the square the other night and how you guys just left bright 'n early this mornin'. It was all 'love' this and 'eloped' that, and 'cluck' this and 'cluck' that. You know how women are."  
  
Tifa punched Barret in shoulder with her mean left. "We are not all like that." She glared at Barret who began rubbing his arm.  
  
"Damn, woman... I didn't mean you."  
  
"Well it's a good thing you didn't make him elope, Tifa, cause he's marrying me!"  
  
Everyone turned around to see Priscilla, the house's pre-teen owner, with her hands on hips. Tifa smiled, "I couldn't if I tried, Prissy, all he ever talks about is you." Her smile broadened as Priscilla trotted over with her arms open, ready for a hug. Tifa picked her up in her arms and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I haven't seen you in so long. you're getting so big now."  
  
Barret leaned over Clouds shoulder. "Women." He said under his breath.  
  
Cloud just rolled his eyes in response, but not before Tifa could send a nasty glance back at Barret. Barret cleared his throat in obvious discomfort and spoke. "Uh, anyway, now that we're all here -" A bright blue flash illuminated the room for a brief moment before disappearing again. "- the hell was that?" Barret stopped talking, looking around the room.  
  
"A storm maybe?" Priscilla suggested, returning to her feet from Tifa's embrace.  
  
Cloud moved to the window and peered out at the setting sun. "No storm; not a single cloud in sight." There was another brilliant blue flash followed by a loud crash just off in the distance. "There's something on the electrical tower." A following, louder crash made Priscilla jump. Cloud's voice tightened. "Something big." Cloud spun around from the window and stared at Tifa and Barret. "We got work to do."  
  
It felt surprisingly comfortable slipping into that old rhythm again. Tifa tightened her gloves while Barret lifted his left, gunned arm in front of him. A reminiscing smile etched into his hard face, and the excitement in the words "Showtime" brought everyone back to their monster battling days.  
  
They all started out the door before Cloud suddenly stopped and turned around. "Priscilla, do you have any Materia?!"  
  
She put her hands on her hips again. "I gave you my only Materia, remember?"  
  
"Oh yeah... Shiva." Cloud replied with a calm clarity.  
  
"And remember how you gave all our other Materia to that greedy, power- hungry little brat last year, instead of keepin' it for ourselves?" Barret voiced to Cloud with a heavy tone. "Yeah, I know." He paused a second. "Why'd I know that'd come back to haunt me."  
  
"Well, the fact that she's-" Another blue flash ignited and caused the lights in the house to flicker.  
  
"No time; let's move!" Cloud announced as he raced out the door and down the stairs to the street below, where a bunch of on-lookers had come from their houses to see what all the commotion was about. By the time they got to the beach, the monster was in plain view. A huge light blue mass slowly scaling the electrical tower feeding Cannon City, above. The tower sat just off the shore, in waist deep water; the coming tide bringing awkward waves into the equation. "Priscilla, head back to the house, now." Cloud spoke with a very serious, stern voice. He turned back to face Tifa and Barret. "The waves are too big for use to fight out there and it's two high up there to attack it. We somehow got to get it to come to us."  
  
Tifa, poised for battle, looked up at the spherical blob standing stationary on the tower. "How are we gonna do that?"  
  
"Man, I am tired of always been the one with the brains." Barret lifted his Gun-Arm to the sky and the whirling sound of the barrels were only a precursor to sound of hailing bullets.  
  
He struck the monster all along it's back, causing itself to turn about and face the three, anger burning brightly in it's tiny yellow eyes. They waited a moment more before Barret sent a second wave of bullets up toward it, adding fuel to fire. From hundreds of feet up on the tower girders, it dropped to the water below with surprising fury. Within seconds, it was advancing to the beach, blind rage in it's eyes. The three braced for the coming battle, letting it throw the first punch. Cloud took point, just as he always had.  
  
One reason Cloud was such a great soldier was because of an ability few possessed. Within fractions of a second, he could take in his enemy, his surrounding environment, and decide on the best direction of attack. This skilled had saved his life on far more than one account, this skill he didn't even know he had.  
  
Cloud's grip tightened around the handle of his sword; his feet buried in the sand solidly. He could see the oncoming monster clearly now. It's rubber-like skin glistened in the remaining light and rippling as it moved, giving the impression of billowing blubber. It's body itself was massive, with four tentacles on either side. The first and last tentacles on each side, were larger, and were being used to propel the demon toward them with such amazing speed. It's face was set very low on it's front half, almost at the ground. Two tiny yellow eyes above a glistening set of teeth, hungry gaping out at them.  
  
It got to the waters edge and stopped. Without any warning, it sat itself up on its hide quarters and launched its four front tentacles toward Barret. The battle was on.  
  
Barret leaped back and fired another few rounds toward the creatures face as its tentacles lethally whipped about the beach. Tifa and Cloud dove under the whipping onslaught and headed for the monsters belly. Cloud could feel himself enter that state again. The place he once called home beckoned him nearer and nearer. At one time, it was all he thought about; and at a time like this, he knew he truly missed it.  
  
Tifa struck first; a high kick to the stomach, only to have herself almost bounce back. It's thick fatty body was highly durable to their blows. Cloud slid in second to slice at it's belly with the luminous Ultimate Weapon blade. The Blue Creature reacted violently and redirected it's attack toward the two. Tifa sprinted out of harms way and left the tentacles seeking Cloud. He narrowly avoided the attack and stepped to it's side, ankles splashing in the cold water.  
  
A split second reanalyzing of the situation. The Blue Creature was highly armored and their current blows weren't doing enough damage to mortally wound the beast. Tifa was closest to him, on the creatures right side; Barret on the left. Two tentacles after both of them, and they were holding out well. They had to-Priscilla! She had come down onto the grass at the beaches edge and was looking directly at him. She pointed up to the tower and then to the beast. Adrenaline coursed through his body as he followed the monster's movements one step before it. As Tifa and Barret both dodged wide, swiping attacks, the tentacles would meet in the middle, in full range of Priscilla.  
  
It was a desperate mad dash through the water and beach sand to reach Priscilla before the monsters wrath descended upon her. He could here the masses of muscled flesh flying through air, coming every closer to the young girl and himself. Barret and Tifa looked on in horror as they spotted the scene about to unfold.  
  
"Cloud! You should-" Priscilla started, only to be interrupted.  
  
"Get Down!" Cloud screamed hoarsely as he lunged toward her and knocked her to the ground. The attacking arms of the Blue Creature swung heavily above them, as Cloud cradled Priscilla underneath him. Priscilla was crying as Cloud moved up off her. She raised her hand to his face and stuck something small and hard in his mouth, it had an odd metallic taste to it. Mr. Dolphin's whistle. He was about to pull it out when he Tifa scream, trying to grab the monsters attention; Barret gearing up for a heavy attack.  
  
The monster seen their plan of attack and drew both tentacles up into the air. Within a flash, it sent them both came crashing down toward Tifa and Barret. It all seemed like slow motion to Cloud who stood between them. He pulled the whistle from his teeth and placed it in his pocket then raced down the middle to the enemy's exposed abdomen. The undeniable surge of adrenaline coursed through his veins once more. The strength of ten men now fed his muscles as his hot body flew headlong at the beast. His lungs gasped for more and more oxygen to keep up with his actions as he held his blade outward and thrust it into his enemy's flesh.  
  
Climhazzard. The monsters hissed roar sounded in the air like horrific feedback as Cloud released the handle of his sword and dropped to one knee. His body was hot, his breathing hard; he didn't even noticed his aching muscles. His hands raised back to the waiting swords handle and shot directly up to the sky. The creature wailed again, this time retreating it's attacking tentacles to defend itself. Cloud landed several feet away, on the beach, and stood facing the Blue Creature; Tifa and Barret coming to his side.  
  
"It didn't get it good enough" Cloud spoke; his voice almost cutting out. "It's skin's too thick."  
  
Barret was huffing as he brought the steaming barrels of his Gun-Arm up to face the monster. "Tough little bastard!"  
  
"Little?!" Tifa replied. She grabbed Cloud's shoulder and pointed to the water. "It's retreating."  
  
"It's not going anywhere." Cloud concurred, watching the beast defend itself, just out of their reach.  
  
"How we gonna this thing?" Barret asked, his sights still on the brooding monster.  
  
Cloud ran his hand across his brow, wiping away the dripping sweat. He suddenly looked back over his shoulder to where Priscilla was standing. She wasn't there, he followed the path up the hill to see her safely in arms with some of the town folk. That's when he remembered; he grabbed the whistle from his pocket and put it in Tifa's hand. "This time, you're going up there."  
  
"What?" She looked down at the whistle, puzzled.  
  
"It's Mr. Dolphin's whistle; call him and head to the tower. There's dangling electric cords where the creature was climbing, up by that little platform. You can throw them down onto it and electrocute it!" He pointed up to the small platform housing a few sparking electrical cords. "Barret and I will keep him busy for you!"  
  
With that said, he pushed Tifa toward the shore and him and Barret dashed at the beast with rekindled vigor. Tifa ran to the waters edge and blew the whistle. Nothing happened. She could hear Barret and Cloud making gestures to the creature and encouraging it to attack them, she couldn't help but look and feel pressured. She blew the whistle again and almost instantly the energetic Mr. Dolphin came racing up to greet her, in all of his Mr. Dolphin cuteness. She found it ironic how out of place he was in the scene.  
  
She latched onto his dorsal fin and he sped her out to the deeper water. Before she even knew what was happening Mr. Dolphin had jumped into the air almost catapulted Tifa up into the tower. With unbelievable luck, she landed squarely in the middle of the platform, barely dodging the jumping electrical wiring.  
  
She gripped the railing tightly, her body shivering every time she looked to the ground below. In the distance she could see Cloud and Barret still duking it out with the injured Blue Creature. It slashed at Barret, who narrowly got out of the way, and separated the sand with the force of its arm's impact. Cloud took the opportunity to swing his sword high over his head and send it crashing down onto the tentacle, cleaving a few feet off of it.  
  
The monsters scream was still echoing when Tifa carefully picked up one of the live electric cables and took aim at the beast below. She took a deep breath and let the cable swing. It came down heavily on the creatures back and charred it's skin black. Not to Tifa's surprise, the creature didn't like it. As the smell of it's burning flesh rose up to her, she began grabbing at the second cable. The first shock she gave him really struck a cord; another may be enough to immobilize him. As she looked over the railing to take aim with the second set of wires, a blue blurred slammed itself into the towers base, sending a vicious shockwave through it. The tower teetered back just enough for her to loose her balance and fall backwards. As if her problems weren't enough, the platform let go and sent her and the other sparking cables further down the tower. In the nick of time, Tifa was able to grab hold of the girder below them.  
  
"Hang on Tifa." Barret said to himself. He and Cloud now stood helplessly by, on the beach, to watch as Tifa battle the creature.  
  
The live cables now dangled only a few feet from waters surface. The monster was right below her; no doubt waiting for her to fall, but at the same time, still wary of the electric wires around it. Tifa pulled herself up onto the girder and stood there looking down at the demon below. Her gaze came up and saw the last of sun dipping into the ocean, casting deep shadows along the landscape. She could hear Cloud and Barret wading out into the water, attempting to aid her, although she couldn't see how. With cables on either side of the creature, freely hanging about, she seen but one path of action.  
  
Her boots clanged on the metal of the girder as she ran toward the right cable. Without warning, and much to Cloud's disbelieve; Tifa leapt from the girder to the hanging wire and swung out over the ocean on it. As she swung back, she loosened her grip enough to fall down toward it's deadly end. When the swing came back she landed easily on the monsters back and drove the cable into its side. Another deafening scream echoed in the night as the demon writhed uncontrollably. In it's throws of pain, one of its other tentacles caught the cable dangling on it's left side. Being electrocuted by both cables was enough to finish the job. In an bright flash from something up top the tower, the electricity stopped flowing and the creature fell heavily into water.  
  
"Are you alright, Tifa?" Barret asked, dumbfounded by Tifa's amazing heroics.  
  
"Yeah... I'm good. A little shaken." She returned, as they all waded out of the water to the towns people on the beach.  
  
Cloud remained quiet while they climbed out of the water and back onto dry land. Once on the sandy beach, they all collapsed in exhaustion. The people behind them started applauding them as others wrapped them in blankets. Tifa looked back to the lifeless creature that had once attacked them so violently. "Let's just hope that isn't a trend. I've had enough monster for one lifetime." She laughed and slowly stammered to her feet; Cloud and Barret doing the same.  
  
"Yeah... they usually don't get hard until the end of our journey." Barret laughed.  
  
Priscilla came to walk beside them. "All the power went out when that big spark came above the monster, so there's not lights anymore."  
  
"That's okay, sweetie. Mind if we spend the night at your place?"  
  
"Of course, you saved our town from the bad monster!" She smiled and ran ahead of them to the house.  
  
By the time Cloud, Barret and Tifa had settled down in Priscilla's living room, it was getting late. Barret was taking advantage of the appreciation food most of the townsfolk had gave them for fending off the beast, when conversation broke out.  
  
"Man, that thing was tough. but it felt so good again to be battlin' the worst of 'em." Barret announced as he bit into a large set of ribs somebody had cooked them up. "I haven't felt that young in ages."  
  
"Funny, I haven't felt this old." Cloud said quietly, rubbing his arms. "I'm physically stronger than I've every been in my life, but one battle and my arms... my legs, my chest; they're all on fire."  
  
"Remember what I said back in Kalm?" Tifa spoke from a chair by the fire, "that's what I meant by 'burning yourself out'. Sure, you're stronger from working so hard on the Neo-Midgar Project, but you're body hasn't had a single minutes rest. It can't use that new found strength."  
  
"The lady's right, Cloud." Barret took another big bite of the ribs. "you need rest. You look the same as the day I meant you. I mean that in a bad way. I hated your spiky headed ass. But in just a short time after that, I was following you into North Crater to battle a lunatic bent on destroyin' the planet." Cloud looked at Barret and then to Tifa, who was nodding her head in agreement with him. "You gotta learn to relax."  
  
"Maybe you guys are right..." Cloud sighed to himself and looked down at his body, sore from the battle.  
  
"So, we're all here now. Where we heading next?" Barret asked, mouth full of food.  
  
"It figures my little trip would turn into some kind of cavalcade." Cloud sighed again. He knew now that Barret would want to tag along with Tifa and himself, but he honestly had no clue where he was going.  
  
"You know, now that we've all finally got ourselves out of Kalm, I think this would be a great opportunity to visit all our friends again.... it's been a long time." Tifa spoke up from beside the fireplace. Priscilla had fallen asleep against her leg. She bent down and picked her up, carrying her into her room.  
  
"Well.... if we're gonna play it that way, I guess Cosmo Canyon is our new destination."  
  
"We can take the ferry to Costa de Sol tomorrow morning." Barret nodded.  
  
"We can buggy right from there to Cosmo Canyon and be there in a night or two." Tifa said with a smile, returning from tucking in Priscilla.  
  
Cloud looked at the flickering fire burning. A few seconds passed before he got up and moved to the opened window by the door. "Actually..... I was hoping to spend some time in that Villa I bought. Never did get much use out of it." He stared off.  
  
Tifa smiled. "Alright.... we'll rest up at Costa de Sol for a while, then header to Cosmo Canyon." She left for the bedroom, glad Cloud was finally taking some of her advice.  
  
Barret got up and looked out to sea with Cloud. "Sure is black out there without the electricity on. No lights or nothin'."  
  
"No.... just calmness." Cloud replied distantly.  
  
"Well, there ain't nothin' but blackness that I can see, so what're you starin' at?"  
  
"I'm not sure." Cloud paused. "I thought... I thought, just for a second, I heard her voice."  
  
Barret sighed heavily and looked out the window with Cloud. After a minute or so he set his Gun-Arm on Clouds shoulder and shoved a plate into his hands. "Eat somethin', you're gettin' skinny."  
  
The next morning Cloud, Tifa and Barret all awoke, sore among things, to find the electricity back. Priscilla remained in bed and they all agreed not to wake her. Instead, they left her a thank-you note and a few gold pieces for her hospitality. They filed out the door while the sun was still reaching up into the sky. The cold sea breeze struck them hard, awakening whatever part of them that had remained asleep. Barret headed down the stairs first, followed by a shivering Tifa. Cloud took one last look out over the seascape. A fire red sun slowly making its way into the heavenly blue above. Gulls squawking at one another off in the distance somewhere. The bustling sounds of the city echoed on above them. Everything was in its place. Everything but.... Cloud couldn't quite put his finger on it. There was something wrong; something amiss. He looked down to the beach, at the small waves coming in and crashing into the sands.  
  
"Cloud, get a move on it. You can stare at the water all you want on the boat." Tifa preached from the road below him.  
  
He took one last look out at the ocean, the battled tower and the disturbed sands of the beach. His eyes widened. "It's gone. The Blue Creatures body isn't there anymore." He announced as he traveled down the stairs.  
  
Barret and Tifa looked to the beach where the formidable monster's body laid the previous night. Barret brought his hand up to block the suns glistening reflection off the water. "It probably got washed out to sea by the tide."  
  
"Yeah; happens to anything on the beach near the water." Tifa assured Cloud.  
  
He finished descending the stairs and walked to there sides. "That monster was huge.... it must have weighed a ton."  
  
"Are you questioning Mother Nature, Cloud? After seeing lifestream take on the comet, I'm not surprised by anything she can do now. Strong as an ox and does what she wants!" Tifa jested, beginning her walk to the Junon Elevator.  
  
Cloud and Barret stood, still looking at the incoming waves. "Women." Barret said with a sneer. Tifa's fist slammed into Barret's arm a second time since the previous night. "Oww... I didn't mean you!"  
  
He followed Tifa to the elevator, griping about his arm, leaving Cloud behind him. It still seemed weird to Cloud, but he let it pass, and ran to catch up with his comrades.  
  
Not long after that, they were aboard the first ferry to Costa de Sol; the home of Cloud's expensive villa, and to his soon-to-be rest. In the wake of yesterdays events, Cloud was definitely realizing he was in need of some R&R. Although it wasn't something he liked to do, and was obscenely out of character, the effects of going without it were approaching dangerous levels. What if he had worked on the Neo-Midgar project another month or two before setting out on this small quest? Would he have been able to perform his duty as a soldier and battle that beast, or would his body have failed and collapsed under him? The thought scared Cloud. It was a fear that was with him now more then ever in his life. To be needed to protect someone and not be able to do a thing.  
  
"Cheer up, Cloud. We'll be soakin' up the rays soon enough; it's only a seven hour boat ride... Hell, you got plenty of time to be gloomy before you gotta cheer up." Barret slapped Cloud on the back and walked off chuckling to himself.  
  
Cloud looked back to the water. Reflecting on something, but unable to focus on what. He dismissed it with a grin and headed off to find Barret and Tifa. Rest and relaxation were upon the horizon. 


	3. What Once Was Lost

THREE: "What Once Was Lost"  
  
It was a bitter cold day. The winds from the north blew hard and constant over the tiny makeshift Bone Village. It was a day like any other and excavation continued on schedule. With Midgar out of commission for a while, many people flooded into the other towns and populated areas around the planet. Many seeking employment decided to go up north to help with the excavation of the arctic continent for answers to the past, intrigued by the recent events of their planets history; that, and a paycheck.  
  
With all the new action around the planet, one person was busy globetrotting to take advantage of the situation. Her travels had lead her to Bone Village, where she had caught wind of riches laying in wait. Now Yuffie Kisaragi was just attempting to avoid the wind. She came to the arctic in hopes of maybe uncovering new materia for her ultimate collection she had acquired from her friends, but instead she could barely move from the cold weather.  
  
"God! What was I thinking? Coming back to this barren place!?" Yuffie questioned her own actions as she dropped her bags at her feet just inside the doorway to the main cabin in Bone Village, which had actually become a village with the sudden expansion of workers. A freezing blast of air blew through the open door behind her and across her bare legs. Immediately she slammed the door shut and gathered up her things. After a moment of rummaging she pulled a small slip of paper of one of her bags.  
  
"Twenty eight." She said to herself with a scowl. "That's way down the hall... argh.." She shrugged and gathered her stuff up for a second time since walking into the room and took off to find her own room.  
  
After finding the right door to her room she entered quickly and threw her bags onto the tiny bed in the corner and opened one up to investigate. She pulled out a much more suitable outfit than her usual green shirt and tiny little shorts that she was always wearing. She changed into the new clothing, which consisted of long black pants and a brown winter jacket. After a moment she was warm finally and then looked over to her other bag, which she opened quickly.  
  
Yuffie dumped a large collection of tiny marble like trinkets all over her bed, and sorted them all out by the five colours they came in, Green, Blue, Purple, Yellow and Red.  
  
"Ultima.. Slash All.. Knights of Round.. Mime.." She mentioned a few more that were of special value to her, even above the others. "Yep that's them all. Every different type of materia there is in existence, and they are ALL mine!" She thought for a minute. "Except for the Black and the Holy Materia... but they were special cases. The rarest and most dangerous of them all." Yuffie frowned at the thought of her collection being forever incomplete.  
  
Some time later, the diggers outside had just finished setting up the machine that let them take readings of the ground in their newest location at the encampment; just within the Sleeping Forest. The strange readings from within the forest had stopped ever since the day that North Crater exploded, and it was now fair game to excavate. They started the process and it took a while to gather the data, when the results were posted on a tiny screen on the device they used, a feeling of awe struck the minors. All that time that they spent excavating was right beside what could possibly be the greatest discovery since the unearthing of the ancient 'Knowlespole' Cetra ruins.  
  
Yuffie stepped out into the cold outside air, she approached the site where the new discovery had been located and everyone in the camp had already begun to dig into the frozen earth.  
  
"What the heck is going on around here today?" Yuffie inquired to the foreman.  
  
The foreman explained what had transpired and Yuffie's eyes immediately began to gain a new glint of hope for what she had been wishing for, a brand new location to scrounge for undiscovered new materia was becoming a reality. It had been a day and a half of digging, and just then Yuffie took notice of the beginnings of what looked like a stairwell. On her break she also noticed, eerily enough that the opening was in the exact location Cloud had pointed out earlier to her where Sephiroth had appeared in one of his prophetic dreams. She was then bombarded by thoughts like 'Did Sephiroth know about this place?' and she began to think about her friends again. A familiar sly smirk came across her face as she began to ponder more deeply into the subject.  
  
"This is how you SHOULD be living, instead of working yourself to death." Tifa said with an overbearingly playful tone. "Just sitting back and relaxing in your beach house." She plopped herself down on the couch in a state of strange joy. Tifa had been more hyperactive since their encounter with the Bubble beast in Junon. Cloud figured it was just a build up of adrenaline after she had been settled down for so long. He peered over the top of the stall he was standing in at Tifa who was facing the opposite direction.  
  
"I don't think this is such as great idea Tifa." He said, changing the subject in his own mind.  
  
Tifa looked back over her shoulder with a slight grin. "What are you talking about? Get out here and let's see this before Barret gets back."  
  
Cloud's height dropped a little as the inevitability washed over him and he swallowed his pride. He pushed open the door and stepped out into the middle of the room; wearing only a pair of uncharacteristic boxer shorts. "I feel like such a tool."  
  
"Maybe shorts aren't going to work after all." Tifa mused. Cloud folded his arms in response. She laughed. "I'm only kidding Cloud, you look... wonderful."  
  
"Why'd you just hesitate there?" Questioned Cloud, feeling very vulnerable for once.  
  
"It's NOTHING, I'm just not used to seeing you out of uniform; that's all." Tifa answered a bit too quickly for Cloud's liking. "It fits you better than your dress did anyway."  
  
"I've told you, I don't want to talk about that. AND it wasn't my dress." Cloud stated quite unamused.  
  
Tifa just shook her head. "Well I suppose now I had better get changed if we're going to have that day on the beach you owe me."  
  
"I still think you swindled me on that bet on the ship somehow....."  
  
"I would never cheat just to see you in your underwear, Cloud, I swear." She said through her smile and raised her hand as if to pledge the truth.  
  
"Yeah, yeah..... well go and get ready.... We had ought to do this and then get on to Cosmo Canyon." Cloud motioned to the stall.  
  
Just then Barret burst through the door, and his eyes locked with Cloud's, who widened his own but froze in stride. "Jeezus! Put some pants on, I don't need to be seeing all that..." Barret said averting his attention somewhere else.  
  
"One to talk, Seaman." Cloud couldn't resist another jab at Barret's own fashion faux pas.  
  
"Hey, I.... uh, hrrmm. Nevermind." Barret backed down not wanting to draw out this conversation. Instead he began to relay the news he had been out collecting. "It turns out, there are plenty of ships going out today, but for us, there ain't no buggy to rent - they're all out."  
  
"I knew opening up a buggy business here would be like that.... booked solid." Cloud shrugged. "I guess we're here for the day after all."  
  
"In that case, do you want to join us Barret?" Tifa asked.  
  
"As tempting as the idea of laying under the sun is, I'm afraid I'm not much for it." Barret raises his gun-arm. "Metal grafted to your arm gets pretty hot in the heat, and I was thinking -"  
  
Cloud wanted to say something but from lessons learned in the past decided not to burn Barret any further.  
  
Barret continued. "- I think I'm going to help out in Corel for a while."  
  
"Yeah, I heard that renovations were beginning on a site for a new Corel." Tifa added her two cents to the conversation. " I think that's great Barret."  
  
"I think so. It will be good to put something back into where I grew up."  
  
"Good luck then Barret, don't work too hard, or you may find yourself with your meddling friends on your case." Cloud quipped as he attempted to get Tifa back for the dress remark she had made.  
  
With that said Barret grabbed a few supplies, said his goodbyes and went on his way, leaving Tifa and Cloud alone for their day out, and alone together for the remainder of their journey to check up on how the gang was doing and onto Nibelheim.  
  
"So Tifa, you were about to change?"  
  
"Yes, I was; I suppose it's only fair....." Tifa said as she stood up off the couch and approached Cloud slowly.  
  
"Only fair?"  
  
"Speaking of fairness; the scale is definitely tipping in your direction. " Tifa said as she ended the conversation and walked into the stall.  
  
Just then; they heard a sound they had not heard in quite some time - the PHS (Personnel Homing System). Tifa bent down in the stall and rummaged through Cloud's pants, which were left crumpled on the floor slovenly, until she fished out the PHS and activated it.  
  
"Uh.... Hello?" Was all she could muster, holding a bikini top out in front of her with the PHS on her shoulder.  
  
After a short moment Tifa replied: "What?... Your Kidding!" Cloud looked up from where he now sat on the couch with a questionable look upon his face. "..What's going on?"  
  
It was a bitter cold day. The winds from the north blew hard and constant over the tiny makeshift Bone Village. It was a day like any other however excavation had ceased. Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie and a small team of excavationists were gathered around a small opening in the middle of a clearing.  
  
"This is amazing." Tifa said to herself as she pulled her jacket tighter around her.  
  
"This is the highlight of my career." The Foreman stated.  
  
Cloud remained silent. His eyes were gazing deep into the blackness beyond the stairwell, and his mind stirred with thoughts that he had never encountered before. What lay beyond within the ruins? The secrets of the Cetra? Anything at all? All other thought eluded him for a long time, the only thing he knew for sure is that whatever was in there he wanted to experience for himself, right now. Almost that instant, his feet moved forward and Cloud began his curious descent into the dark. Everyone else looked from face to face to face and then slowly cautiously followed after him. Immediately after the Forman entered with his electric lamp, an entirely different kind of understanding of the Cetra unfolded before their eyes.  
  
"This is amazing...." Tifa managed to sputter out again as a richly detailed coliseum-sized sub-terrain cavern was revealed to them. The stairwell they were currently walking upon came down to a balcony and then split off to either side and continued down the circular wall to the main floor, which from above seemed to be a library of sorts. In the middle of the room a large raised table was placed with many varying objects scattered across it's surface. Everything was covered in thick dust and cob- webs, and other than the groups steps and breathing was completely silent.  
  
Cloud was a few paces ahead of the group and ran his hand along a stone banister, then brushed off the thick gathering of particulate. Yuffie did the same, however let out a slight squeak as she noticed the dirt. As everyone made their way down the path and took in the wondrous sights of detailed carvings and masterful architecture lost to their time, where most buildings were created of steel. It was an awesome feeling when they finally reached the main floor.  
  
"What is this place?" Yuffie asked after a moment.  
  
The foreman looked around a bit more to clarify the surroundings before he stated what the place was most likely. "This is the information center of the ancient people. It has to be."  
  
Tifa stood at the bottom of the stairwell. "Information center? Like.... everything they knew is here?"  
  
"Maybe. I'm really not sure... I think we might have to get someone from Cosmo Canyon to take a look around, maybe they can translate a bit of this language I keep seeing on everything." The Foreman pointed to various architecture around the place where they stood.  
  
Cloud was too engrossed in the objects upon the huge table in the middle and he walked along the perimeter of it gazing long and hard at each new and strange thing he saw. Various instruments used for measuring and plotting course seemed to be most of them, or so it seemed to him at that time. Eventually he came around to a raised rectangle built directly into the top of the table and as he wiped his hand across it's sleek surface, he uncovered that of an ancient map.  
  
"I've found something interesting." He said aloud as everyone else made their way towards his find.  
  
"What is it Cloud?" Tifa said, for she was the first to arrive beside him.  
  
"It's a map.. not nearly as detailed as any map now, but it is clearly this world." He replied calmly.  
  
"It's different. The continents are a little bit off on this map." Yuffie leaned in closer and noticed as she gazed upon it. "It also says here that during the time when this map was useful, this arctic continent was lower and warmer.."  
  
The Foreman came up at last and looked upon the well preserved map. The light from his helmet immediately pointed out more detail previously unseen.  
  
"This map has markings of all of the ancient temples and cities on it... we've seen them all though." Yuffie looked frazzled.  
  
"Wait. Move your hand." Cloud pulled her hand off the map's surface and beneath it a strange symbol was there, in the mountains close to Junon.  
  
"That is Crater Lake. Why would there be anything there?" The Foreman spoke to himself.  
  
"Was that always Crater Lake? Or is that just the remnant of some other Meteor that ended some other civilization?" Cloud Questioned. "Perhaps at that time, it was the Cetra equivalent to our Midgar?"  
  
Tifa blinked a few times. "That is quite a bit of speculation on your part, Cloud... All considering you've really no idea what your talking about."  
  
"True... I suppose."  
  
Yuffie chimed in. "I think it's worth a look-see!"  
  
In an instant she had made up her mind and dashed off up the stairs. Cloud and Tifa shook their heads and then looked at each other in the darkness from either side of the Foreman's lamp. Without a word it was agreed that a trip back to Junon was necessary and that their other priorities would have to wait. 


	4. The Circle Must Be Drawn

FOUR: "The Circle Must Be Drawn"  
  
The cold wind on the glacier was piercing and blew relentlessly. It was dark and it was silent except for the ever constant sweeping of the gale. That had seemingly always been the way of things for as long as anyone who existed in this world could remember, but in an instant the wind stopped. Nothing moved in the glacier at all. It was as if time itself had halted due to some effect of Time magic. However this was not the case; that instant the wind stopped a primeval force was awakened from a very long slumber.  
  
From just underneath a blanket of freshly landed snow, a figure sat up with a start, as if waking from a terrifying nightmare and sat perfectly still for awhile, adjusting to the environment. When the time was deemed right, the figure got to it's feet and looked around, the horizon was sharp and vicious; looming on all sides with crags of sharp ice blades reaching up to the heavens.  
  
"Cold desolation now..." Echoed the voice of a young woman. "... and yet I can still sense life here."  
  
She began to make her way along the ground with a surprisingly quick and strong stride. As she moved a long dark coat flowed behind her and her hair was the same colour. Her skin was pale white, her eyes were red and looked like death, but they sparkled and seemed to radiate with a hidden power, even in the shadows. Upon her cheeks, she bore a blue marking like a diamond slash, and the same markings were present on various other places unseen. She looked human, but for all other purposes she was not.  
  
The white woman had ventured very far across the glacier's tundra and showed no sign of weakness before she came to a ridge that overlooked Icicle Town.  
  
"Here there is life. Something has transpired and the guardians have not been successful. This must be rectified before anything else can be done." She stood there and the wind blew again from behind. Her long hair and coat blew around her as she continued to observe that which was not supposed to be.  
  
Some time passed and some children were playing outside on a sled in Icicle town.  
  
"Let me have a turn!" demanded a little girl.  
  
"No Way! You always hog the sled! I never get a turn!!" A boy said as he picked it up.  
  
"I do not!! I'll tell mommy!" the girl screamed. "Now gimme the sled!!!"  
  
"I told ya, NO WAY!!!"  
  
It was rapidly getting darker as the children played. They knew that before long they would have to return inside for the night, so desperately the both wanted to use their sled. Eventually their mother came and broke them up and took them inside. Unknown to them however, this would be no typical night in Icicle; for at that moment unseen eyes were watching from nearby.  
  
"These are peculiar beings. So small and so driven, only for an insignificant device. They are not worthy or capable of surviving the guardians." The lone woman came up over the ridge and made her way to where the children had been arguing. In their haste of being scolded, they had left behind the sled and now the woman in black loomed over it silently in thought. 'Turmoil amongst them. They fight with themselves over this. thing. Why? These creatures that exist in this world now only exist to possess these trinkets? Is that what matters here? Is this what drives them to exist?'  
  
"Who's there?" came another voice from the doorway of a house. It was the innkeeper coming outside as he closed down the inn for night. The woman just stood there, looking down at the sled, as if the question had not been asked and no one else existed in the world except herself. The innkeeper bellowed to her again. "Who are you little missy? Hmm?" She did not reply. The old innkeeper became frazzled and stomped over to her side. "Hello? Are you deaf?? Are you paying attention??" He waved his hand in front of her eyes and she was surprised suddenly.  
  
The woman stepped backward and fell down. She seemed to be in shock, however she responded. "Why do you do that?"  
  
The innkeeper was surprised. "Why do I do... what?"  
  
"Why do you do this?" The woman replied, and then she mimicked the hand gesture the innkeeper had done.  
  
"Are you serious?" The innkeeper found that amusing. "Your asking me why I moved my hand?"  
  
"You moved your hand." She looked at her own hands. "Hands. I have never heard that before, you name your parts. Are you not one?"  
  
"What? Of course! Everything has a name! The innkeeper replied. "My name is Hank."  
  
"Hank."  
  
"Yes, That's right. What is your name?"  
  
"Not hand. My name is not the grouping of many things to make one... it is only one."  
  
"What? Your name is One?"  
  
"I have had many names." The woman seemed to be adjusting to things quickly.  
  
"So what IS your name?"  
  
"I am named 'the Crisis from the Sky'."  
  
Junon City was bustling with activity now as workers from Midgar ran this way and that. Everything was in an uproar, as word of the new discovery spread throughout. The idea that some hidden place loomed just over the horizon, seemed to fill everyone with curiosity, and some with a hint of fear. It had only been a day or so, but even on top of the regular Midgar workers, the population had seemed to double. Reeve stood by a large bay window that overlooked the entire city. He was in good spirits and had made special arrangements for Cloud, Tifa and Yuffie to stay in the Shinra suite rooms, usually reserved for members of the now extinct high council at Shinra.  
  
"This is an exciting new time, isn't it friends?" he said as he turned away from the window to join Cloud and Tifa. Yuffie was out at the moment with Priscilla, teaching her the proper way to search for Materia, or so she said.  
  
"It is." Cloud replied.  
  
"I'm interested in seeing what is there for myself." Added Tifa.  
  
"Yes, as am I. However that may not be possible for a while." Reeve came over and sat in a chair off to the side of where Cloud and Tifa sat upon a couch. They watched him as he talked. It was sort of uncomfortable talking with Reeve, although they had known him for a long time, it just seemed wrong not to see Cait Sith skulking around before them.  
  
"That's true. When did Cid say he'd be arriving?" Tifa asked to Reeve.  
  
"Tomorrow morning. He had some things to take care of in Rocket Town before he left."  
  
"Woman problems again, no doubt." Cloud said as he looked at Tifa.  
  
"Knowing Cid he's probably said something again and been kicked out of the house." Tifa smiled playfully. "I think he'll be glad to get away from Shera for awhile."  
  
Reeve's phone rang just then. He went over to his desk and picked it up. "Hello?" He covered the receiver with his hand and turned to Cloud and Tifa. "This is an important call from Midgar; I've got to take it now, it may be a while so..."  
  
"It's okay Reeve. We'll get out of your way for a bit." Cloud replied. He was about to get up, but before he moved he noticed something odd. His arm had been around Tifa's shoulders for some time now, but he had failed to notice. Tifa uncrossed her legs and stood up first.  
  
"Well, I'm going back to the suite. Are you coming Cloud?" She said as she turned around. She was extra-excitable again, the state she was in after the last battle. It was odd to Cloud, because he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. Cloud stood up and put his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"I've got nowhere else to be."  
  
Tifa smiled and they left. Reeve watched them as they vanished around the corner. "Well, aren't they close today." He turned his attention back to the phone call. "What?.. no, I didn't mean you Reno.. of course not."  
  
Meanwhile, in the town below, Yuffie and Priscilla were down by the beach. Much calmer than last time, Mr. Dolphin was swimming around in circles trying to get their attention, but to no avail. They were engrossed in other matters.  
  
".. So THAT's when I found MIME! The only one EVER!!" Yuffie finished another one of her exciting adventure stories, which always involved her, but excluded any help. Priscilla knew she was exaggerating, but didn't really mind.  
  
"That was exciting! Do you have anymore stories?"  
  
"Well there was that time, I lent all of my Materia to Cloud and everyone, after they spent all of their time searching out my help! God they are so useless without me around, you know? I was their driving spirit!"  
  
Priscilla Laughed. "Isn't that the time you stole all the gangs materia and hid yourself away in Wutai? But they found you out?"  
  
"Heh.. heh.. heeeeh.. .. heard that one already, huh?" Yuffie admitted defeat.  
  
"Yeah. I've heard a lot of stuff from everyone!"  
  
"Right.. No more stories then.."  
  
Mr. Dolphin was moving back and forth up on his tail calling out to the girls, but they were still talking amongst themselves. Something was definitely wrong and the animals could feel it, and they were right, however unseen it was.  
  
"Something's definitely wrong here." Said a man holding a shovel.  
  
"If it isn't Barret Wallace come on back to Corel." Another said, as he got to his feet.  
  
It had been over a year since Barret had set foot inside Corel, but now he could be seen, making his way down the mountain path with a sling full of supplies. He walked slowly, as if he dreaded every step he took closer to the town. Sure, he had returned before, and even saved the tent town from being obliterated totally by a runaway train, but there was still an uneasy feeling about Corel.  
  
If it wasn't enough that most people in town hated him for leaving in the first place, or the events in old Corel Prison where Dyne committed suicide; it was the death of his family. All these years had passed and he just could not let go of them.  
  
Barret stepped into town again. The men who were standing there with shovels looked him up and down before one of them walked off into a tent close by.  
  
"So.. Ya heard we were getting' ready to rebuild? And ya thought you'd come by and bring back more trouble did'ja?" The man cut him down.  
  
Barret remained silent, but he dropped his sling from his shoulder to the ground. The other man continued. "So that IS it then. Iffen that's the case we don't need your help."  
  
It was about then that an unexpected voice spoke up. "Leave him alone."  
  
A bright fire twitched from around the corner of one of the nearby tents and Red XIII slowly came wondering around it. He had grown a little since Barret had last saw him, and now was about half of Barret's size.  
  
"Izzat you, Red?" Barret pushed past the man with the shovel paying him no attention.  
  
"Yes. Are you surprised to find me here?" Red countered Barret's question with another question.  
  
"Yeah, a bit. I figured you'd be up at Cosmo Canyon doing this or that, you know?"  
  
"I was just passing through, when I noticed you were arriving."  
  
"Where were you off to?"  
  
"Icicle Town, actually. I've been having disturbing dreams as of recently involving that place." Red looked a little distraught upon thinking about them. "You're here in Corel to help restore it?"  
  
"That's the plan."  
  
"A very honorable task; if not tarnished by the citizens here." Red looked over at the man with the shovel, who shrugged and took off.  
  
"Wow, for just passing through, you seem to have the Corel folk under your thumb.. or paw. What's up?"  
  
"I'm a strange animal that can talk.. wouldn't you be a little uncomfortable?"  
  
"Hell no.."  
  
"Maybe that was a bad example with you, Barret." Red looked towards the sky. "well, it was nice to see you again. Perhaps on my returning trip I will meet you here again."  
  
"Maybe. I'll see you later Red."  
  
"Yes. We shall meet again. Goodbye!"  
  
Barret knew where Red had to go, and so he told him to drop by Cloud's Villa and see Cloud and Tifa, unless he met them coming this way as well, and Red agree happily. And with that Barret and Red XIII parted ways. Red continued up into the mountains heading off towards Costa De Sol, and Barret entered Corel, and took up residence in the inn.  
  
The keys to the suite jingled madly as Cloud opened the lock on Tifa and his own room. He opened the door slowly, it slid gently without a sound, for it was well kept, and allowed Tifa to enter first.  
  
"Ladies first, I believe." Cloud said to her as she walked past him.  
  
Her eyes turned to meet his, as he entered and closed to door firmly behind him. "Why Cloud, your being quite the gentleman today, aren't you?" She said with a slight smile.  
  
"That's right. I try, you know."  
  
"I know, I've been keeping track of your progress."  
  
Cloud was puzzled. "My progress?"  
  
"Your progress. You know? Not being a total jerk?"  
  
"Ohh.. yeah, that progress." Cloud sighed. "Was I really that much of a jerk?"  
  
Tifa made her way to the large bay window that over looked the sea and seemingly gazed out, although she was only looking at Cloud's reflection as he made his way towards her from the doorway. "Sometimes you were, very much so; but not as much recently. I'm actually quite proud of you, if that means anything."  
  
"It means a lot to me." He supported her statement. "Thanks Tifa. What I am today, is mostly because of you."  
  
Tifa blushed a little, it wasn't everyday Cloud thanked her, let alone let her know what he really felt. She ran her hand across her cheek, hoping to hide her red cheeks from view. Cloud watched her and as she desperately attempted to hide her emotions from him, Cloud wanted to draw nearer, but he couldn't. Not with Tifa, not yet; but try as hard as he might to control himself, the feeling was there, just below the surface. waiting for her.  
  
There was a strange glow in Icicle Town that night, as it sat in the hills of the arctic, burning to ashes. There was only one sign of life walking amidst the refuse; the mysterious 'Crisis From the Sky'. She came to a stop and took in the destruction from the big hill where once children played, but never again.  
  
".. And so all is clear to me. Once again, the circle must be drawn." She announced, seemingly to the world; although it fell on deaf ears as her statement echoed into obscurity. From her perch she raised her arms, and as if altering gravity itself, her body rose from off the cold ground into the chilled night air and she took off into the twilight. 


	5. Crisis From The Sky

FIVE: "The Crisis From The Sky"  
  
  
  
Tifa slowly opened her eyes. They focused slowly, letting the radiant morning sun into them. She didn't move yet, instead Tifa simply lay there looking out the window watching the glistening water of the horizon for a few minutes before she finally sat upright in bed. Throwing her covers off she pulled herself to the edge of the mattress and stood up. She did her morning stretches, as she did every day, mainly working on her legs to keep in good shape for traveling around a lot.  
  
After she was through stretching, she got prepared for the day, she washed up, combed her hair and got changed into some clean clothes. She headed outside into the hall and knocked on the door across the hall from her own room. There was no answer, after knocking for awhile longer, she opened the doorknob and found that it was open. The room had been unused. Nothing was out of place, still fresh for someone to use for the first time. She knew that night, Cloud had not slept there.  
  
Tifa quietly closed the door behind her as she left and walked a bit further down the hall to Yuffie's door. She knocked three times and after a few moments of shuffling and odd noises from beyond, Yuffie swung the door open.  
  
"What?... Oh, Tifa; Hello." Yuffie said with an slightly blushed grin. "What brings you here.. now?"  
  
"Have you seen Cloud around anywhere?" Tifa asked, wondering what Yuffie was doing behind closed doors. "He didn't sleep in his room last night."  
  
Yuffie seemed to blush a little more. "Nope... haven't seen him." She lost eye contact with Tifa as she looked at her own feet. "I thought he was in your room last night."  
  
Tifa blushed madly. "W-What? What does that mean?" Tifa felt the hair on the back of neck begin to stand on end.  
  
"I dunno, I just figured... Well, when I look at you two, I don't see friends.. If you get what I'm saying." Yuffie stammered around the words. "I'm not blind to those things, you can fool Barret, but I'm not that blind."  
  
Tifa couldn't believe what she was hearing, from Yuffie at that! Lost in thought, many things raced through her mind, but from out of nowhere her action took over.  
  
Tifa raised her hand and slapped Yuffie across the mouth. "How dare you assume that? Cloud and I are just friends!!" She said with a slight waver in her voice. She walked backwards away from the astonished Yuffie until she backed into the wall, she felt a great sadness beginning to well up, ashamed of her words and actions Tifa covered her face with her hands and ran off down the corridor.  
  
Just around the corner she ran headlong into Cloud, who caught her before she could fall to the ground from the sudden rebound. He only managed to catch a glimpse of her swollen red eyes before she pulled away from him and out the door. He called after her, but Tifa was gone. Cloud stood there watching after her for a moment before hearing Yuffie's door slam shut.  
  
In an instant, he was there at her door grasping the knob and flinging the door wide open.  
  
"I've only seen Tifa cry once before in my entire life! What happened?!... Yuffie....?" Cloud stopped dead when he saw Yuffie, she was facing away from him, her shoulders shook as she held back her own tears.  
  
"I think.... I've said too much." Yuffie stoically stated, the tone in her voice stern, hiding the quivering little girl in her words.  
  
Cloud advanced slowly and when he finally met her, he held her shoulder. Yuffie shrugged him off as she turned round to face him. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen, but otherwise dry, and a tiny line of deep red ran down her face, from her nose over her lips.  
  
"Your bleeding. Here, take this." Cloud took a tissue out of his pocket and attempted to dab at her lip. She immediately backed away from him.  
  
"Don't.... I can take care of it." Yuffie spoke as she brought her hand up to her face, limply placed in front of her mouth, obstructing the view.  
  
"Yuffie, what happened?" Cloud withdrew his hand and shoved the tissue back in his pocket. "Why did she hit you? It definitely not like her."  
  
"I told her how I saw things around here. She got upset." Yuffie spoke, but her eyes never moved from her suitcase of materia on the floor across the room.  
  
"What did you say to Tifa?"  
  
"I, I said that I thought she was involved ...with you." Yuffie directed her attention to Cloud, she looked straight into his soul. "She said you were only friends."  
  
Cloud went cold. He had only felt that way once before in his entire life, when he stood and watched as. he was too late, once again. For Cloud those words seemed to perforate his soul. All this time, he had thought Tifa was falling for him, but her resentment of that fact proved otherwise. At that moment, Cloud's heart sank, his plan had failed.  
  
Yuffie attempted to comfort him, knowing all to well Cloud's feelings, as he stood there before her. "I know you like her more than you let on.. but she is not ready, my nose can attend to that." Yuffie said, attempting to console Cloud.  
  
Cloud wasn't listening, instead something else was happening inside of him. Something in his perception changed. That moment seemed to freeze. He looked around the room, it was blurry and distorted, He looked at himself, and his eyes couldn't focus on anything, he was dull and transparent. He looked back to Yuffie who remained stationary until that very moment when she slowly and clearly pulled her hand from her face; oozing red blood, thick like slime was plastered to her. Where her hand had been, strands of blood glistened as she drew it away from herself. She had a wicked grin and a demonic look.  
  
Cloud couldn't move. Yuffie drew closer as everything else seemed to fade away into pitch blackness, devoid of everything; only the now strange bloody Yuffie stood before him. Drawing ever closer.  
  
"Cloud... Stop it." Yuffie spoke calmly.  
  
She drew closer still. Cloud couldn't move his legs, but he leaned backwards as she got ever closer.  
  
"Stop it Cloud, your hurting me." The words retained no emotion of any kind and echoed like they were bouncing through a canyon.  
  
She reached forward, her blood soaked hand touched Cloud's face, and she drew ever closer to him. There she stood, face to face with Cloud. Her red lips quivered with some unknown and undesirable drive. She took Cloud's limp hand in her own and trust it to her breast.  
  
"Your hurting me... please.. stop..." She whispered quietly as she pressed her lips against Cloud's mouth, She kissed him passionately, and Cloud all the while was gripped with fear. When she finally pulled away, she was no longer Yuffie Kisaragi, she was Aeris. She looked angelic, even through the caked on blood. She smiled and began to laugh, that innocent laugh.  
  
"I love you, Cloud Strife." Was all that she said. With that the apparition of Aeris joined with the inky blackness of everything else.  
  
"Cloud!! Agh.. Let go of me! Your hurting my wrist!!! Idiot!!" He heard Yuffie's voice echoing. Then in a brilliant flash, everything was normal, except he was now clutching Yuffie's arm with his hand. Cloud released her from his fearful grip.  
  
"What the HELL? What's wrong with you, you jerk." Yuffie took back her arm and rubbed it gently with her other hand. "Lighten up, It's not as bad a situation as you might think."  
  
"Am I going insane?" Cloud thought to himself. He couldn't grasp at all what had just transpired. "I need a drink." He tuned around slowly, stuck in between dark thoughts and shock.  
  
"What the hell are you doing? Cloud? Where are you going?" Yuffie ran to her door as Cloud turned the corner.  
  
He had left her room as suddenly as he had arrived, the only thing he said to her was "It's happening again..."  
  
"Argh.. Why do I get involved with the people." Yuffie slammed her door and shook her head. "I'm just going to pretend this morning never happened..."  
  
Reeve stood watching the ocean from the observatory deck. He was disturbed by some shocking news he had just heard from afar. Surveillance reports from the north continent were grim, compiled of the unfortunate news that Icicle town had been mysteriously snubbed out of existence by a huge inferno.  
  
This was very bad news , not only were there no survivors of the catastrophe, but investigation had come up nil, with a source for the blaze. It was puzzling, but not so far-fetched. It was true this had happened before, when Sehiroth's rage erupted in Nibelheim causing it to burn to cinders. His predecessors rebuilt the entire town, a facade was installed to protect the true purpose of that town, and now the same would have to be done with Icicle.  
  
Icicle was no mere town, even to the untrained eye it was merely a Shinra research facility, or at least at one time had been. These days, it had become a town all the same, with Midgar out of commission, Reeve knew there were people there. His own people. He was disheartened, unlike his former employers would have been, but still something had to be done.  
  
Lost in thought, he hadn't the slightest idea of the strange events that were unfolding all around him. Yuffie was tending to her sores, trying not to think about what had just transpired, although she felt an uncontrollable worry for her friends. Cloud wandered down the street, towards the bar in central Junon, and elsewhere, deeper in the city, a freshly clear headed Tifa found herself in a futile confrontation.  
  
"What are you talking about? Off limits?" Tifa questioned a Shinra soldier who had stopped her approach to the underwater reactor facility.  
  
"I'm sorry, ma'am, unauthorized personnel are not permitted to enter."  
  
"What? What's so special I don't already know about!?" Tifa questioned the soldier. She had wanted to go down into the facility and just watch the undersea environment for a while to cool down, before going back to Yuffie and apologizing. However upon arriving she found two guards.  
  
"I'm really sorry, but only official authorized personnel can go down there now." The guard couldn't be swayed.  
  
"Fine." Tifa sighed, her plan defeated by protocol she slowly made her way back into the crowded Junon streets. She felt terrible for hitting Yuffie, it truly didn't become her. However she was even more worried about what she had said.  
  
"Why can't I bring myself to admit it?" She thought to herself as she plodded along. "I love Cloud so much, but I just can't say it. Is it so wrong?" She pondered futilely over the same questions that went through her mind everyday. After a while had passed, she found herself at her doorway once again. She looked towards Yuffie's suite and guilt possessed her. She knocked three times, the same way she had earlier.  
  
Yuffie answered, her nose red. "I knew you'd come crawling back." She sneered mockingly.  
  
"Yuffie.. I'm sorry, I... I just wasn't expecting you to say that." Tifa explained.  
  
Yuffie already knew. "I know.. I know. You don't need to explain yourself, just restrain yourself."  
  
Tifa blushed a little, knowing all to well her own strength.  
  
"Well, are you going to come in, or what? We need to talk....." Yuffie invited Tifa in from the hall.  
  
It was then that both of their PHS systems rang in unison.  
  
Meanwhile at that moment, a distraught Cloud pulls up a stool in the Junon Bar. "Give me something hard." He says to the barkeep as he swaggers towards him.  
  
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't sell liquor here at Eight O'clock in the morning." The barkeeper replied dryly.  
  
What? Just gimme something... I need a drink bad, here." Cloud was astonished when the barkeep handed him a strange pink brew with an umbrella and a straw in it. "What is that?"  
  
"Lemonade De Sol." The man behind the bar replied, wryly once again. "It is a specialty, imported from Costa De Sol."  
  
Cloud's eyes narrowed, but he really didn't care. He took the drink and swiveled around in his stool so he was facing away from the bar, and stuck the straw in his mouth. He sat there for awhile not really observing his environment, only searching inside. Searching for answers to his recent waking dream. It had only been two days since Tifa told him to get over Aeris, He intended to let her go, knowing there was nothing he could change, however there she was, once again. Aeris Gainsborough's likeness resurrecting itself from his memory, a morbid version of her this time. Cloud had forgotten about her, and she came back to haunt him, now in the day, and not even confined to his dreams. this bothered Cloud to no end.  
  
Was there something more he could do?  
  
"What can you do, huh?"  
  
Cloud snapped out of his thoughts at the unexpected sound of that voice.  
  
"I mean, shi't... no alcohol here, I was surprised myself. Damn Fad Drinks."  
  
"Cid Highwind; when did you get here?" Cloud turned to find the old pilot perched up on the stood beside him, hunched over the bar, staring at his own Lemonade De Sol.  
  
"Heh! That's my name. I arrived, maybe an hour ago, give or take the amount of time those damned traffic controllers take to find a landing zone. HA!" Cid bellowed heartily. "I figured after a long flight, I'd come and wet my whistle, but instead I find this two-gil fad shi't."  
  
"Right. I hear that. Hey, I thought you were a tea kind a guy?" Cloud remembered the first day he met Cid, and his insistence on having tea served piping hot.  
  
"Ah, I only like tea when Shera brews it up. She's a good little woman to have around sometimes." Cid replied. "So Cloud, how's life on- site??"  
  
"On-site? Oh... Midgar, I quit." It seemed like ages ago to Cloud since he had been there. "Three days ago."  
  
Cid took a drink from his straw, gave a strange squint and then continued the conversation. "Really? The great Cloud Strife QUITS? What has the damn world come to?" The pilot almost sang, as he pulled out a cigarette. He lit that up and put it between his teeth.  
  
"Excuse me sir, but you can't smoke that in here." The barkeeper interrupted.  
  
"Ah shi't." Cid stood up. "Let's get out of this fairy-bar. I'm sure there's more drinking establishments around this place somewhere."  
  
"Fine with me." Cloud stood up, the barkeep cleared his throat. "Oh yeah." he dug into his pocket and threw 2 Gil on the counter. The barkeep picked it up and crossed his arms. Cid stopped just before he left the bar. "Oh, could you pay my tab too? I'm short on cash."  
  
"You don't have 2 Gil?"  
  
Cid grinned and shrugged.  
  
Outside, Cloud joined Cid who was puffing away on his cigarette. "You owe me."  
  
"Owe you? Hah. I figure, I helped save the world, I shouldn't have to pay for anything cause without the lot of us, they wouldn't be here now, would they?" Cid seemed stuck on that idea.  
  
"I saved the world too, so you owe me at least." Cloud retorted.  
  
"HAH, clever bastard."  
  
"Not really... Your just getting old."  
  
"You stabbed me, right in the heart. Right in the heart!" Cid laughed as he held his hand to his heart and winced in pain absurdly.  
  
Cloud grinned a bit, Cid always knew how to cheer him up. "So you really didn't know I quit the Midgar Project?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"How much do you know?" Cloud was curious as to the security Reeve placed on the upcoming events.  
  
"Reeve said to get here as fast as I could and bring the Sub-winch." Cid recalled Reeve's brief conversation with him over the phone. "Why? What's so god-damned important?"  
  
They began to walk as they spoke, it was still very early in the morning, however the non-stop bustle of crowds was constant. Cloud filled Cid in on the details of what had transpired the past few days.  
  
"I'm sorry I missed it." Cid finally spoke. "But what's the big deal? Why the winch?"  
  
"Do you enjoy being the first man in space?" Cloud asked casually.  
  
"Damn straight."  
  
"Well you can add another 'first' to your roster."  
  
Cid looked genuinely puzzled. "What's that?"  
  
"I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it's going to be..." Cloud stopped in mid-sentence.  
  
He stared ahead, not sure if he was seeing was really there or not. He ran into the crowd ahead of Cid and disappeared. From between the paths of crossing workers, he swore he could see someone in pink, ahead in the crowd making her way through the bustle. Cloud cut swiftly through the people, but no matter how much time he made the girl was always ahead of him, she ducked into an alleyway. Cloud reached the corner of the building she had cut into, but found no one.  
  
Cid caught up, out of breath and looked around. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary he looked at cloud. "What the hell has gotten into you?"  
  
Cloud was staring intensely down the dark alleyway. "I swear.. It was her."  
  
"Who?"  
  
Cloud didn't answer. Cid just shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck as his breath returned to him. "Man, I must be getting... The hell? What's this?"  
  
Cid stooped down. Cloud too looked at the ground, amazed at what he saw. Cid brought up the small thing he had seen, and held it upright between them. "Isn't this... one of hers?" He said.  
  
"The only ones I know..." Cloud spoke, in a state of reminiscence.  
  
It was a single flower.  
  
At that moment, Cloud and Cid received a signal from their PHS. It was Reeve on the other end calling them all to a meeting, immediately. When finally Cloud and Cid arrived in Reeve's doorway, they found Tifa and Yuffie already waiting there.  
  
"Cid! You've arrived already!" Tifa exclaimed as she stood up from the couch where she was seated. "I was hoping to meet you at the runway."  
  
"Yeah, I made good time. The new girl is much faster than the old one." Cid responded.  
  
"You guys wouldn't believe what we found, just now." Cloud brought up the strange discovery before the group.  
  
Reeve spoke up from across the room at his desk. "What is it?"  
  
Cloud revealed the flower which he and Cid had discovered on the street. "It's the kind Aeris grew in Midgar."  
  
"It's beautiful. It's the same kind of flower you brought be back in Sector 7!" Tifa clued in.  
  
"I guess."  
  
Yuffie didn't seem overly enthralled by the discovery. "So what? Some worker brought it back from Midgar, woo-hoo. What's so special about it?"  
  
"I saw Aeris just before I found this. I swear it was her. This is a sign.... of what, I can't say though."  
  
"Are you sure it was Aeris, I mean.... she's dead; to put it bluntly." Reeve leaned back in his chair.  
  
"I didn't see anything, I think Soldier-boy is still sleeping." Cid laughed.  
  
"I haven't slept yet." Cloud looked at him.  
  
Cid raised a hand to him offering a reasonable explanation. "There you go. Your imagining damn girls that aren't there, lack of sleep I tell ya."  
  
Tifa took the flower. "That's reasonable Cloud...."  
  
Cloud crossed his arms, as Tifa spoke. "Whatever."  
  
Everyone settled into the room after that, and Reeve began. He spoke of the plans for that day, that afternoon they all would go to crater lake via Highwind II, Cid's new ship. Using his new winch they would lift one of the submarines over to the massive body of water and set down, then dive into it. Crater lake had been explored, but it had always been too deep to ever reach the bottom by any other means, and there was no reason to ever explore the crater bottom before, until the discovery in the unearthed Cetra library the previous day. It was a shot in the dark, but if the marking on the map was accurate, whatever was hidden beneath crater lake was immense.  
  
Time that day raced by. Cid, Cloud and a small team of Shinra crew had been installing the winch into the docking bay of the Highwind II and were just finishing up. The sub had been prepared for immediate loading into the ship and was currently being pulled inside the immense cargo hold.  
  
"What do you think is down there anyway?!" Cid yelled above the loud rumbling of the winch motor and the clatter of retracting chains.  
  
"I'm not sure, if anything at all!" Cloud shouted back. "Like Reeve said, the marking I had seen on the map was at least Midgar sized, maybe a bit larger!"  
  
"Were the Ancients that advanced?!"  
  
"I don't know! Technology wasn't their thing..." Cid nodded as Cloud thought a second. "....It might be magically based, from the architecture I saw in the library!"  
  
Meanwhile, on a catwalk elevated above the cargo bay, Tifa leaned over the railing, looking at the flower she had taken from Cloud. She knew there was more to it than their explanation of it.  
  
"Any flower would have wilted long before it made the trip from Midgar to Junon. This flower is freshly prepared, and they only grew in Aeris' church." She pondered upon it for awhile longer.  
  
If she didn't know better, Tifa would have thought the flower she held, was the very same one Cloud had given her that day in Seventh Heaven. When she smelled it's pedals, it was like no smell she had encountered before, the smell had a light, but distinct smell of Mako, a fragrance she could not easily forget.  
  
Yuffie sat beside her on the grating, her legs dangling over the edge. She was impatiently waiting the trip. Minute by minute she grew more hopeful that this endeavor would end up with the discovery of some new kind of materia.  
  
"Do you think there will be any new materia down there?" Yuffie asked Tifa.  
  
Tifa looked down at her. "Don't you have enough materia for one person?"  
  
"No... I need the ultimate collection and I know there is more than what we had collected." She was sure of herself in that.  
  
"I swear, you'd find a way to pry Holy out of Aeris' grasp, wouldn't you?"  
  
"I'm sure she wouldn't mind." Yuffie scoffed.  
  
"What about Black?" Tifa asked her of her thoughts on it.  
  
"If I found it, I would take it.... but I wouldn't know where to look for it now."  
  
"I wouldn't touch it personally; Unless to destroy it."  
  
Tifa watched Cloud and Cid talking down below. Cloud was standing with his back to her, and Cid was facing the open cargo doors. She could not hear what they were talking about over the noise of the motors.  
  
"Yuffie, Look how much Cloud and Cid are talking."  
  
"Yeah? They haven't seen each other in about a year, I imagine they are catching up."  
  
Tifa still had the flower in her hand, she was twirling it between her fingers while watching the lone soldier make conversation with the rugged pilot. "Cloud has only said about three words to me all day.... is there something wrong?"  
  
Yuffie hunched over a little. "Something wrong? It's Cloud, he barely ever says anything to anybody... right?" She said, watching him gesturing with his hands to Cid. Yuffie frowned. Tifa sighed. "Not with me."  
  
"I think he heard you yell 'just fiends!' this morning. When he was talking with me, he was acting really weird.." Yuffie tried to cover for herself telling Cloud that.  
  
"But we are.. just friends." Tifa was distracted.  
  
Yuffie rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Uh-huh."  
  
"By the way, what do you mean when you say 'acting weird'?"  
  
It was just after noon, when the preparations were finally completed. Everyone stood out on deck of the Highwind II as she sailed in the sky a few meters above the water's surface of Crater Lake. Cid was puffing away on another cigarette, while Cloud was leaning on the rail. Staring at his reflection passing along the calm water's surface. Tifa was at the railing as well, she too gazed into Cloud's reflection upon the water. Yuffie was sitting on the floor of the deck, leaning against the railing, she still hadn't developed her wings. Everyone simply stood there, not talking at all.  
  
The submarine was released from the hold and everyone boarded it. Cid took the controls and rushed into the other front seat, for the view, and for the reason of leaving Cloud and Tifa alone in the back.  
  
Cloud sat down in one of the remaining benches behind Cid, facing sideways towards the isle, looking at the opposite bench where Tifa would sit down. She did not take that seat, instead she too sat down beside Cloud on the bench. Everyone pulled their seatbelts across their laps and Cid began hitting various buttons and setting switches. The engines whirred to a start and a few other consoles and instruments began to emit noise.  
  
"Here we go." Cid spoke as he finally pulled a large console lever beside him, which started the descent into the unknown. The sonar beeped regularly, drawing up a map on a computer screen in the middle of the dashboard. They slowly kept going down and down, until eventually there was no light cutting through the water. Internal lights came on in the sub and cast a red hue to everything inside.  
  
"According the sonar, the crater floor should be right below us now, however if this is accurate, there's another hole just ahead of us in the floor. Think that's what we're aiming for?" Cid asked.  
  
"I'm not even sure what we're looking for." Cloud spoke.  
  
"We should at least try it." Tifa spoke.  
  
Yuffie sat in her seat, seemingly enjoying the view, even though there was not much to look at except an inky darkness, with four tiny beams of light being cast out in front of the submarine. She coughed lightly, and almost simultaneously Cloud tensed up. Tifa had put her hand on his leg. He followed her hand up her arm and met her eyes, she looked at him straight faced for a moment before an awkward grin came over her. Cloud grinned too, as he put his hand over hers. They held hands for a long time.  
  
When the submarine passed through the hole, on the other side a feeling of awe swept over them all. Even through the murky water, the searchlights on the sub revealed to them a grand testament to the Cetra. Huge spires and pillars shot from the roof of that cavern below the crater down into the deep darkness below. The further down they proceeded, the more magnificent the architecture became. It was very old and covered in rough barnacles and coral growths, the structures themselves looked like a collective web forming a dome around them. Each section looked like a huge metal plant, all eventually weaving together towards the bottom into a single small passage, only big enough for the sub to fit in.  
  
After proceeding to dive into that they came into a smaller area beyond the first massive web structure, was only a small pool. The tube they came down went under the waters surface, but in that area was an air pocket where they could surface and get out of the sub. This was an ancient docking bay, into a complex underwater structure.  
  
This was the Cetra's finest creation.  
  
Before they had a chance to exit and explore the area, a new sound screeched inside the submarine. Yuffie jumped at the sound and Cloud squeezed Tifa's hand. Cid flipped a panel open and turned a dial until a click sounded. Reeve's voice, distorted from interference and preoccupation filled their ears.  
  
"Junon has just come under attack, repeat , Junon is under attack." That was all the transmission said, before it was cut short. A sudden fear gripped them all, as it sunk in.  
  
"We've got to get back there. This can wait." Cloud said, speaking over Cid's shoulder.  
  
Cid had already began to climb back up the structure, before Cloud had finished speaking. The pressure tolerance of raising the sub quickly made their ears pop a few times, but they were more worried about surfacing. A few minutes later, they were pulling themselves aboard Highwind II and setting out for Junon.  
  
Upon arriving they found a lot of massive damage. It was apparent whatever had arrived had already finished with the runway, airships lay in pieces, exploded where they sat, some smoldering in flame.  
  
"Holy shit! Reeve wasn't fucking around!!" Cid blurted out as he climbed out of this ship and surveyed the damage.  
  
"What happened here? Where is everyone??" Tifa took a few steps away, listening. She could hear screams from the streets below. "Come on! Whatever is here, is still here!!"  
  
Cloud was silent.  
  
"My Materia had better be okay!" Yuffie blurted out as they all ran off.  
  
On the street below, they ran headlong into wanton destruction. They slowly made their way through the mess and fires until they were almost trampled by a fleeing crowd. Coming around a large section of a fallen building wall, they caught a glimpse of what was reeking havoc upon Junon Harbor. A single woman.  
  
Cloud rushed ahead, putting his arm back forcing the others to stand back. He unsheathed Ultima weapon as he quickly made his way along the crumbled street towards the woman. "Hey! What do you think your doing!?"  
  
She slowly turned at the sound of his voice, and looked at him. Her red eyes burned with power. Long black hair flowed softly in the wind, as it also blew around flames that sparked on every surface.  
  
"The champion has come at last." She spoke.  
  
"Who are you?" Cloud yelled over the screams.  
  
"I am the Crisis From the Sky."  
  
Cloud's blood ran cold. He had heard those words muttered before, when Sephiroth had confronted him inside the Temple of the Ancients. No, Sephiroth had said 'Calamity from the Sky'; the Meteor. It was something else. In Icicle Town, Dr. Gast's research tapes had recorded Ilfalna speaking of another Calamity, in that reference, she spoke of the original Jenova.  
  
"JENOVA!!"  
  
The woman looked at him oddly. "Another name to add to my collection?"  
  
"What are you doing here?" Cloud beckoned.  
  
"It was you, who defeated the Guardians. I can feel it, and I can see it in your blade."  
  
She raised her hand. As she did so, the Ultima weapon ripped itself out of Cloud's grasp and flew through mid-air into the hand of Jenova.  
  
"We can't have things like this around can we? That is not acceptable." She said. As she held it, the blade became dim, dimmer than it had ever gotten before and she took it and swiftly smashed it against the street. What remained of the hilt the threw at Cloud's feet with a heavy metal clang.  
  
Cloud was astonished; when the time came, even Sephiroth could not destroy that blade. It was rapidly hitting Cloud that there was much, much more to this mysterious woman than he had first realized.  
  
"Champion. There is always one." She stated.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"You will prove quite worthy of challenge." Jenova spoke once more, but that was the last thing she would say. With that she flew off leaving behind her a wake of terror, fear and mystery. 


	6. Everyday Life and Death

SIX: "Everyday Life and Death"  
  
Tifa was waking up and preparing for her day by doing her morning stretches, Cloud was not in his room, Yuffie was reorganizing her prized collection once again behind closed doors, and Cid Highwind sat in a dank bar drinking an imported lemonade.  
  
This was not the case across the sea that morning however, for the day had already began at dawn, as the preparations for New Corel were beginning. Barret had been busy with the other citizens of Corel unloading lumber from the back of a truck for quite some time now. A few teams of people were off in the distance, constructing simple wall frames, for the first house. It didn't take long for a building to take shape, after about an hour and a half the cubed frame of a room was built, another hour and a smaller extension had been added to it. It had been nearly 3 hours of work, and with the teams all working together they had began to add in more framing to the cube, and hanging a wall over the bare frame. By noon, the first house was up. It wasn't much to look at, but it had walls, a door and a few windows. When they really tried, Corel could really work together to create something.  
  
With that first task completed in record timing, it was time for a lunch break. Barret sat alone, outside on a rock by the crossroads between the tents and the Tram going upwards to the Golden Saucer. He had only a sandwich in his hand. He sat and looked hard at the new building, he was proud of what the town was doing.  
  
Barret remembered the way old Corel had been, back in the days when he and his wife lived there, along with his best friend Dyne and his wife and child, Marlene. It was a good life there, until the Shinra came with their reactor. It was because of them his life had taken the path it had. Barret took a deep breath and sighed as he exhaled, thinking of Marlene.  
  
When Dyne disappeared, he had taken her in as his own child, but when Barret became head of Avalanche, she soon came into the care of Elmyra, Aeris' adoptive mother, where she remained still, back in Kalm. He missed his little girl. Over the past year, she too had grown quickly along with it, and now she was nine years old. Marlene had no idea who her real father was, at least the question had never been raised. Barret thought that she knew he was not her real father, mainly because he was a large burly black man, and she was a clever tiny white child. It was clear Elmyra had become a mother figure for her, for she had never truly had one before, with the untimely death of her birth mother in the original Corel fire.  
  
It was around that time that Barret heard a distant noise, from down the road. Over the horizon, another cargo truck was driving towards town. It wasn't a supply truck it looked like a Shinra vehicle, and as it drew closer, that was confirmed.  
  
"The hell is this?" Barret said aloud.  
  
He rose to his feet as the truck came into town and stopped. The passenger door opened and Red XIII jumped to the ground. Barret was a little confused, but the sudden appearance of his friend overcame his curiosity.  
  
"Red? Back so soon?"  
  
Red looked up at Barret, a longer face than usual was about him. "My plans have changed a bit, I had planned on that trip to Icicle town, but these gentlemen here, have informed me that Icicle no longer exists." He said solemnly.  
  
Barret's jaw dropped. "No longer exists? What crap is that?"  
  
"It was burned to the ground yesterday. No survivors...."  
  
Red turned his attention back to the truck cab. "Thanks for the ride back here, fellows."  
  
"No problem! We were heading this way anyhow." A soldier replied as he poked his head out of the passenger side window.  
  
"Hey, where are you guys goin' anyway?" Barret blurted out.  
  
"Gold Saucer. We've got a shipment."  
  
"Shipment? Of what? Shinra and Gold Saucer don't work together, do they?"  
  
"We don't know what it is, we just deliver it. This is the first of it, there'll be plenty more from what we heard around the base." The soldier answered as he pulled himself back into the cab. The truck rounded the corner into the Tram platform where the two delivery workers got out of the truck and went to the compartment. Barret and Red followed. The doors were flung open and a large crate, big enough for two men to carry easily was concealed inside. However upon picking up the large wooden box the two men were having trouble getting it to the Tram.  
  
Barret offered his help. "Need any..uh... help?"  
  
"Nah.. We got it. Thanks though guy." Said the driver of the truck.  
  
A few seconds later the crate crashed to the ground. A poorly constructed corner split off, and a small plastic container fell out. The two soldiers picked up the crate again after the driver yelled at his accomplice for not following instructions properly and got on the Tram. It left immediately afterwards and Barret and Red watched as it traveled up higher and higher until it disappeared against the faint image of the Golden Saucer that loomed on the horizon.  
  
Red was sniffing the small container that had fallen out of the crate. It was like a small canteen with a twist off top, however it was transparent and contained a thick green liquid. Barret picked it up and investigated it for awhile.  
  
"Should we open it?" He asked Red at that point.  
  
"It doesn't have a label... maybe we shouldn't." Red cocked his head as Barret held the canteen between his gun-arm and his body and twisted the top off with his other hand.  
  
"...or not." Red added.  
  
A smell wafted out immediately piercing their noses, which made Barret put the top back on.  
  
"Ugh... That's nasty." Barret coughed. "I figured it was Mako in there."  
  
Red shook his head, the smell much more overpowering to his sensitive nose. "As did I... however that definitely is NOT a natural substance."  
  
"So... what now? Do we give it back?" Barret scratched his head.  
  
Red sat down. "I'm not sure. Before we do that, I'd like a counsel with the others on it."  
  
"Others? Oh, Cloud and them?"  
  
"Precisely."  
  
Barret began to walk back into town as his lunch break was coming to and end. Red got up and walked with him. "Didn't you meet 'em in Costa de Sol?"  
  
"The Villa was abandoned."  
  
"Weird. They shoulda been past here by now if they left. Just a sec."  
  
He pulled out his PHS and hit a button. After a few rings the other side picked up.  
  
"Cloud?"  
  
"Yeah? Barret??" Cloud spoke over the device, he seemed distracted.  
  
Even Barret who was usually a little slow at picking up on emotional states could tell something was up. "Where are you guys?"  
  
"We just took off from Junon."  
  
"Junon? What're you doing back there? What's that noise?"  
  
"Right.... you don't know. And that's engines; We're on the Highwind."  
  
"I don't know a lot of things! Red here just said that Icicle Town burned down!"  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"You didn't know?"  
  
There was some distortion over the PHS. Cloud had his hand over the receiver so Barret couldn't make out what he was saying. Then suddenly Tifa's voice came on.  
  
Tifa spoke. "How'd you hear Barret? Your still in Corel right?"  
  
"Tha's right. Listen; Red and I got somethin' here we need to talk about."  
  
"Well, right now we're all heading to the Gold Saucer. Meet us there and we'll all talk."  
  
"A'ight.... See you in a bit." Barret turned the PHS off and looked at Red. "Sumthin' big is happenin'."  
  
Meanwhile, aboard the Highwind II, Reeve comes down a small ladder from the upper deck bridge to meet with the rest of the company. "What's wrong with all of you suddenly?" He asked as he met everyone with a bitter expression of melancholy upon their faces.  
  
Cloud spoke in turn, calm as the words came out. "Icicle Town burned down yesterday.." He slowly raised his eyes from the floor and shot them toward Reeve. ".. But you already knew that."  
  
"Sadly, yes." Reeve solemnly replied. "I would have told you, however I did not want to derail your other efforts with the news. I have a team investigating.."  
  
"What good will that do now? We all know what happened." Cloud looked around at his friends. "Jenova destroyed Icicle, and then she attacked Junon."  
  
"Jenova..?" Cid spoke up. "That makes no god'amned sense at all. We wiped the floor with that spook."  
  
"Are we sure that was Jenova? I mean, Jenova is a monster, right? That was a woman." Tifa broke her silence.  
  
"She called herself the 'Crisis From The Sky', the only reference is Jenova, the original one. The one that came down and destroyed the Cetra." Cloud spoke.  
  
Reeve stepped into the middle of the semi-circle they had formed. "I think it is time I revealed to you all, some findings I have uncovered the past year in Junon." Reeve spoke sternly, then he motioned for them all to follow him into the conference room. After a few minutes everyone had taken a seat around the table, Reeve at one far end and Cloud opposite him. Tifa and Cid sat to the either side of them.  
  
Reeve began. "Surely you of all people Cloud, must have been wondering why I had not been on-site during the Midgar construction, right?"  
  
"Well, a little; I suppose. What's all this have to do with anything?" Cloud admitted.  
  
"I'm getting to that. You see, ever since I came into this Shinra thing, I had perpetually been in the dark on matters. Now, having the reigns of the whole operation I decided to take the liberty of learning a bit about the company's past."  
  
"So you've been researching? Anything in particular?" Tifa asked.  
  
"I began looking into Dr. Gast's files on the whole Sephiroth project, however I got a little sidetracked along the way. You see, I stumbled upon his personal journals, from the time he spent in Icicle in seclusion with Ilfalna."  
  
"Ilfalna?" Cid was curious.  
  
Tifa filled him in quickly. "She's Aeris' real mother, and Gast is her father."  
  
"Oh.."  
  
"Anyway...." Reeve continued. ".... She had told him a lot of things about the Cetra that he had never actually put into his official reports. A lot about culture and technology, and a lot of the final days."  
  
Cloud intervened. "Wait a second... Ilfalna was there?"  
  
"That was one thing I never fully understood." Tifa interjected Cloud's outburst. "I mean, Ilfalna and Aeris were both Cetra, but the Cetra died out centuries ago. So how'd Ilfalna even end up in the here and now.... or rather.... the there and then?"  
  
"Yeah! What's up with that?" Cid suddenly realized that was true.  
  
"Here we go." Reeve said. "Okay, Here's how it worked. I know the files weren't really kept very accurately back then, so information is a little sketchy, but from the journals, Gast writes that on the first expedition to 'Knowlespole', the Shell City, they found a huge shard of yellow materia. Sealed inside was Ilfalna, frozen with some sort of advanced time spell. They chipped her out and when she awoke and they did some tests they found she was infected with a peculiar virus; the virus itself was sampled and sent back to Shinra laboratory, and Ilfalna was cured indefinitely."  
  
"Then that means that instead of finding Jenova frozen, they found Ilfalna instead." Tifa realized just how wrong the Shinra papers were, or perhaps they were altered to keep people from discovering the truth.  
  
"In a way, Jenova, the monster we have all had to deal with was discovered that day." Reeve corrected her. "You see the virus that was shipped back to Shinra had a strange DNA to it. and after experimenting on the sample, Gast discovered that it could be cultured into a mass cell structure. From that, a strange beast was grown, and dubbed 'Jenova' after the bringer of the virus as told by Ilfalna."  
  
Cloud sighed as he let the information sink in. "So your saying that what began all of this is a virus?"  
  
"Yes, Jenova was a virus."  
  
"And Shinra decided to start splicing it into soldiers?" Cloud asked another question.  
  
"Gast discovered that the viral DNA strengthened the body when directly combined with other genetic samples, however he did not follow that research. But at that time, Hojo was adamant about it. So he conducted experiments secretly until Gast discovered he had even resorted to experimenting on his own offspring, and even himself."  
  
"Sephiroth."  
  
"Exactly. Well from there we all know what happened."  
  
Cid shook his head. "But what's all this damn mumbo-jumbo have to do with this new broad? Huh??"  
  
Reeve explained further that the virus that wiped out the Cetra had been somehow sent forth from Jenova, the woman who 'came from the sky' one day. Ilfalna was the only one to escape the effect, due to a desperate attempt to survive on the Cetra's behalf. With no cure, they froze her until there was one.  
  
"Why only one person? Why not everybody?" Cloud asked.  
  
"There were not many left at that time anyway.... The Cetra had suffered a tremendous loss from attacks from the Weapons."  
  
"The Weapons?"  
  
"Oh yes, The Cetra had defeated them, but it had utterly destroyed them in the process. After they had been thwarted, the Cetra had began to relax, and slowly spread out again, however within the same year Jenova unleashed the virus upon them."  
  
"How sad." Tifa said to herself.  
  
Cloud sat back in his chair. "Does anyone detect a pattern?"  
  
Cid looked around at everybody. "I'm completely confused."  
  
"We did this to ourselves!" Cloud exclaimed. "The Cetra defeated the Weapons, and then Jenova came to finish the job! Don't you see?"  
  
"Yeah.... that's right!" Tifa sank in her chair. "When we destroyed the Weapons a year ago, that must have triggered something which awakened her now..." Tifa was cut off by Reeve.  
  
"...to finish the job."  
  
There was a eerie silence upon them as that idea set in on them. 


	7. The Reunion

SEVEN: "The Reunion"  
  
The tram pulled into the loading bay at the Golden Saucer with a clang, and released some steam with a hiss. Barret Wallace and Red XIII stepped out of the car and made their way to the service desk just before lobby. The lady at the counter asked the same old inquiry, and again Barret dug into his pocket and pulled out his Gold Membership ticket. They were swiftly ushered inside where they immeadiatly took notice of the newly finished expansion.  
  
The Golden Saucer had recently come into the possession of a vast affluence of money, with the grand opening of the Casino Zone attraction. Along with that, Dio, the man behind the Golden Saucer's operations, had decided to erect an air dock, since the past year had seen the construction of numerous airships that were continuously on the go.  
  
Barret and Red waited in the lobby for a little while before everyone finally arrived.  
  
The steel plated entrance way opposite the tram entry slid open as the group made their way into the lobby from the port. Reeve appeared first, he walked promptly tapping a refined wooden cane on the floor every few steps, as he came to a stop he swung it up under his arm; Purely a fashion statement. Not far behind Reeve strode Cloud, flanked by Tifa. Cloud was carrying a large black suede case, rimmed with silver and latched tightly by three silver bolt locks. He looked bleakly as he was no doubt lost in thought, however he glanced to Tifa who met his gaze, he forged an approving grin in his somber face. Tifa walked in sync with Cloud's steps as they made their way to the center of the area. When she noticed Red and Barret coming towards them she waved with an inviting smile.  
  
Cid and Yuffie wandered through the doors a minute or two afterward, Cid had been busy anchoring the ship into position on it's pad. He struck a match against his slacks before lighting up another thin cigarette as he made his approach towards the group. Yuffie was just at the back of him, her duffel bag filled with Materia, slung over her shoulder. She held the strap firmly with one hand by her shoulder and one about half way down it's length. They were both in high spirits to unite with their old friends again. Cid took Barret's forearm and shook it twice, that was how Cid had always shaken hands. Yuffie put her hand on Red's head and messed up his mane with a snicker.  
  
When everyone had gotten reacquainted, they made their way to Dio's trophy room in the Battle Square, where he could be found most of the time. As usual, Dio was adamant over one of his newly acquired gizmos when they arrived. "Well, well, look who the proverbial cat dragged in!" he rang out when he finally took notice of his assembled audience. "What brings you to my Golden Saucer this time? Perhaps you've heard of my newest attraction - the brand new Casino Zone!!"  
  
"Yes, we've come to play your games." Cloud spoke, a cynical tone in his voice.  
  
"Well, well, if it isn't Cloud Strife, the champion of the chocobo racing circuit!.... or should I say FORMER champion?" Dio scoffed.  
  
Cloud remembered very well what Dio had done. "Where's my bird, Dio."  
  
"Boko, is doing just fine, I'm taking very good care of that one."  
  
Cloud's eyes narrowed. "I bet you are."  
  
At that point, Reeve made his way to the front of the group. "It's been a long time, Dio."  
  
"It has indeed......" Dio spoke through a perfect grin, marveling in his treachery.  
  
Reeve was openly annoyed, he had never really liked working with Dio, he didn't really know why, perhaps Dio reminded him too much of himself. "We've come with urgent news." Reeve paused for a second. "I think the Golden Saucer may be in danger."  
  
"What are you talking about? Nothing involving the Shinra, I hope." Dio's grin left his face as quickly as it had been placed there.  
  
"No, nothing like that."  
  
"This lady is gonna come and burn this place down!" Yuffie blurted out.  
  
Dio was amused to say the least.  
  
"Lady? What lady?" Barret asked from behind everyone. "What's goin' on?"  
  
Reeve turned his head. Cloud exchanged a glance with Tifa and Yuffie, while Cid took an uncomfortably long puff on one of his cigs.  
  
"Perhaps it would be best for all of you to go and bring each other up to speed." Reeve finally said. "Dio and I have some other business to attend to."  
  
"What's that?" Cid addressed Reeve, who tapped his cane on the ground and did not reply.  
  
"Well, let's go and catch up." Tifa broke the hush.  
  
Cloud gestured approvingly, and put his arm on Cid's shoulder urging him along with them, as everyone left Reeve and Dio to their own devices.  
  
Walking along, they found themselves in Wonder Square where they finally stopped to speak freely. Cid finished his cigarette and flicked it away. "Something is not right here, folks." He said, a little too sure of himself.  
  
Tifa crossed her arms. "What makes you say that?"  
  
"I've been thinkin', why, out of everywhere we could be now, are we here?" Cid asked to his friends, before he answered it himself. "Because Reeve wanted to be here."  
  
"So?" Yuffie said, naively.  
  
"I just came to see my Gold Chocobo." Cloud muttered to himself.  
  
Cid defended his accusation. "Now, don't get me wrong, I like that man, but I don't trust him. Not for a second. Right now he's alone with that rich sunufabitch talking about who knows what; but I highly doubt it's about that spook."  
  
Red sat down. "Spook.... Lady... please, if you don't mind, would someone bring Barret and I up to speed?" He asked politely.  
  
Cloud leaned against a nearby railing. "We know for sure that there is somebody calling themselves the 'Crisis From The Sky' flying around attacking towns."  
  
"Jenova." Red spoke without discretion.  
  
"JENOVA?! We killed her ass!" Barret yelled, cocking his gun-arm with his other hand.  
  
"No." Cloud replied.  
  
Yuffie wandered off, looking at a flashing screen of a new game console. She thought this was a little redundant.  
  
Cloud continued. "We killed a..... a clone of Jenova." Putting it as straightforward as he could.  
  
"Well Shi't." Barret sighed. "I've'n missin' out."  
  
Red looked up at him, distraught, either by the idea that facing Jenova was better than helping to restore his own home, or the fact that he had just combined the words 'I have been' into one and still made sense.  
  
"She's incredibly powerful." Cloud warned Barret. "We'll have to face her eventually, I think."  
  
"Just tell me where to shoot." Barret seemed to take the news well.  
  
"So, Barret, on the PHS you said you had something to show us?" Tifa was curious as to what Barret and Red had been doing all the while.  
  
"Oh yeah, almost forgot." Barret said as he pulled out the tiny bottle.  
  
"What the hell is that? Mako?" Cid grabbed it out of Barret's hand.  
  
"Not as far as I can tell." Replied Barret. "Smells a whole hella' lot worse."  
  
Cid passed the unlabeled bottle to Cloud.  
  
"Where'd you find this?" He asked after examining the consistency of the liquid within.  
  
"A whole shipment of it was delivered through Corel. From Shinra to the Gold Saucer." Red filled everyone in on how he had accompanied the two soldiers forwarding the shipment from Costa De Sol to the Golden Saucer; how he had heard of Icicle Town's demolition, and the discovery of what lie within the crate.  
  
"Do you think maybe that shipment is what Reeve and Dio are talking about?" Tifa thought aloud.  
  
"Maybe. It seems'ta fit the puzzle. What else would concern both Shinra and the Saucer unless it was some deal they had, and Reeve's just came her to check up on Dio's end of the bargain, make sure he doesn't get ripped off?" Cid put the pieces together.  
  
"Do you think they'll miss this one?" Cloud put out the bottle in his hand.  
  
"We're missing one of the containers out of the shipment; but other than that, everything so far is a well oiled machine, just like me." Dio gave a status report to Reeve. "Peons." Reeve sighed with displeasure. "Can I find no good help these days?"  
  
Reeve and Dio had walked through the Gold Saucer using Dio's direct tunnels and were now lavishing the environment of the elegant new Casino Zone.  
  
"You seem more miserable than usual, Reeve!"  
  
"Things are falling apart, I'm afraid. They are unraveling, small incidents now, but I fear unless my friends and I can discover a way to stop this Jenova, the future will not be a bright one."  
  
"Well as long as you can keep supplying that fuel, everything is A-OK!"  
  
"For now, it seems. However as of today I'm focusing more of my attention here. I have to protect my investments." Reeve spun his cane like a drill- bit, grinding it into the floor.  
  
Dio's sly grin crept upon his face once more. "I can't thank you enough. That money you gave me was more than enough to expand my lucrative games."  
  
"Think nothing of it. After all, you are funding Neo-Midgar, so I think it's only fair I give you something in return." Reeve stated.  
  
"Splitting the costs down the middle, was pure genius. We'll be stinking rich in no time at all!!" Dio was delighted at the prospect of being even more rich than he already was.  
  
"You already are stinking rich."  
  
"You can never have enough Gil."  
  
Night had fallen on the Golden Saucer, and everyone had gone abut their own business; passing the time while Reeve and Dio began preparations for a possible attack by Jenova. A small regiment of Shinra soldiers had arrived at the Gold Saucer and placed the facility under martial law until any threat had been dealt with. The soldiers had set up their operations base in the Battle Square; this is where Reeve and Dio currently resided on the grounds. Flanks of armed guards were patrolling the internal perimeter while another team was monitoring the surrounding area for any signs of Jenova, aided by small one-manned flying 'Vector Class' scout-ships.  
  
Cid and Barret had taken up residency at the submarine game; which Cid had utterly dominated. His strategy could not be easily beaten especially by Barret, who was simply attempting to successfully control his sub. Yuffie watched on, attempting to relay attack patterns to Barret and cheer him on.  
  
Cloud wandered around for a little while, before finally he ended up at the Chocobo stalls. When he found Boko he was relieved, to say the least that he was in good shape. Dio had indeed kept him in good condition. From his belt he pulled out some greens and held them up to Boko, who gladly accepted them. Cloud ran his hand over the mighty beak of the golden chocobo, before he turned his attention to the large suede carrying case he had left propped against the wall. He went to it, his eyes following the hay-strewn stable floor and caught a glimpse of Tifa's silent shadow cast upon the ground.  
  
"Cloud?" Tifa asked meekly.  
  
Cloud looked up to meet her. "Tifa?"  
  
"I thought I'd find you somewhere around here."  
  
"Yeah.... I'm just making sure Boko is okay here."  
  
"I'm sure he's doing just fine; it's you, I'm worried about Cloud."  
  
A quizzical expression swam across Cloud's face. "What? What are you talking about?"  
  
"I know something is up." She paused. "I was hoping you would fill me in?"  
  
"I don't know what your talking about." Cloud stated before turning his attention back to his carrying case.  
  
"Don't give me that, I know you better than you know yourself." Tifa had her hands on her hips again, signaling that she meant business. "Yuffie told me all about your little encounter this morning."  
  
"What about it?" Cloud was playing dumb, of course. He already knew that Tifa knew too much to possibly cover anything.  
  
"She said you were acting funny, like when he had you." Tifa continued.  
  
"He isn't the problem anymore." Cloud looked a little sick; thinking of Sephiroth, but felt worse knowing who was actually playing around with him. "...No, it's not him...."  
  
Cloud popped open the locks up the side of the case and opened the front panel. Inside, the case was lined with a red silky fabric, sleeping within was the Buster Sword. He took it from within and held it aloft, a comfortable familiarity in it's simplicity.  
  
"It's.... her." Cloud finally stated.  
  
As if summoned by will, the warning alarm began to blare over the P.A. system of the Golden Saucer. Everyone dropped what they were doing and raced for Battle Square. When Cloud and Tifa arrived, everyone had already assembled, and were huddled around Reeve. Cloud pushed his way through the crowd of soldiers as Tifa followed in close quarters behind him. They cut through just as Reeve began his briefing.  
  
"This is it. The target has been spotted heading in this direction by our Vector scouts. We are all aware I'm sure, of this 'Jenova's' power, so prepare accordingly."  
  
There was a wave of mumbles and excitement throughout the crowd.  
  
"This is not a drill. We react as though she was a weapon! This facility must be protected, I want no more meaningless causalities today." Reeve stopped and brought a PHS to his face to speak.  
  
"Where is the target?" He inquired.  
  
"'Bout in range of our unit." A voice only Reeve could hear answered. "Should we strike?"  
  
"Negative." Reeve spoke, eyeing the crowd; being careful of his words.  
  
"Leave 'er to the Vector Unit? Eh?" The voice said. "Gotcha. I'll inform Rude and Elena...."  
  
Reeve pressed a button, ending the call. "Jenova will be entering the area soon, we must prepare now."  
  
Meanwhile outside of the Golden Saucer, a squadron of Vector-class flying vehicles were patrolling the air zone where Jenova would be arriving from. "We are the first line of defense men! Be on your guard; that target will be arriving any moment now." The squad leader radioed over his intercom.  
  
"Sir, yes SIR!"  
  
"Roger!"  
  
"Copy that."  
  
"You gotta be kidding me!" One wingman replied. "This is suicide!"  
  
"Never give up hope!" The leader reassured him.  
  
Suddenly Jenova came into their sights. She flew gracefully towards them, almost in slow motion. However that was not the case, for almost immeadiatly they saw her speed past, disregarding them completely.  
  
"Uh.... GET HER!" The command was issued as the squad came around and engaged Jenova from the rear. She still did not regard them as a threat, until the first stream of gunfire whizzed past her head when she stopped. Two of the fighters raced past either side of her until she reached out and took hold of both of them. Suddenly she was towed through the air between them until by her strength alone she pulled both Vectors into each other causing a high-speed explosion. Flight recorders captured only half of the terrible screams from the pilots within before they were reduced to wreckage and shrapnel that spiraled through the sky. Jenova was completely unscathed.  
  
Inside, a lot of people watched the dogfight from their various locales. The members of Avalanche had grouped themselves by Reeve.  
  
"This is bad." Cloud said.  
  
"It is." Reeve agreed, wholeheartedly.  
  
"Shi't.... that ain't bad; it's damn'ear impossibly BAD." Barret stuttered.  
  
Everyone else just stood in awe of the raw power she seemed to be able to conjure from such a petite frame. She was remorseless as she plotted her next kill, suspended in the air like a marionette with no strings.  
  
"I told you this was SUICIDE!! Wait..... AHHHHHHHHRGH!!! NO!!!" The wingman screamed over the intercom. Jenova came from out of nowhere and landed on the front panel of the Vector the soldier was in. She had an intense look engraved upon her face as she dug her fingers into the metal fuselage of the Vector. Speeding through the air at incredibly high-speeds she pulled the Vector through the air more rapidly than it could fly and jumped off, just before the craft careened into the exterior wall of the Ghost Square with a colossal explosion.  
  
More gunfire came at her and she moved now. The two remaining Vectors gave chase, as she flew through the gigantic branches that held up the sections of the Saucer. After seemingly toying with the fighters for a few minutes she lost interest in her game. They regrouped to get a clear shot at her, when she raised her arms, the palms of her hands facing out towards them. A flash of light from both of them, too fast for some to even register consciously, and the small ships began to combust. They went out of control and as they zoomed past Jenova they exploded into a single streaking inferno.  
  
"Everyone prepare for battle." Reeve repeated to the men and women who watched on in awe and terror at the almost formulaic taking apart of the Vector squadron. However before anyone could react Jenova crashed through the pain of glass spraying the room with debris and sending bodies through the air.  
  
She was crouched down on one knee, looking towards the ground with an indistinct stare on her face. Both of her hands were upon the floor, palms down. She was calm cool and collected, the same feeling of emotional disconnection that seeped from her in Junon. Some people got to their feet, while others lay still; unconscious or dead. Everyone in the room was at full alert as the sound of weapons being drawn filled the room.  
  
Jenova finally raised her head and panned over everyone in the area with ruby eyes before she slowly stood up straight; gun barrels following her movement slowly. Glass cracked and snapped as she shifted her weight, settling into an assumed relaxation.  
  
Cloud approached her cautiously, Buster Sword held aloft in his right hand. Tifa made a noise behind him as he left Reeve's side, but no words formed. "Jenova." He began. "What do you want?" He raised his free hand to her, a gesture of calmness. She paid no attention now to anyone else, and regarded Cloud with a peculiar glance. Her eyes seemed to glow, examining him at her own leisure until they met with Cloud's, and the fire within became fixated.  
  
"Your sight." She said, to her a meaning all too well explained.  
  
"What? What do you mean?"  
  
"Your sight.... Could you....?"  
  
Barret piped up in the background. "What're you yappin' about, you crazy." He was cut short by Jenova's stone cold glare for a moment, before her demonic gaze slithered back to the soldier before her.  
  
"Could I what? What are you talking about??" Cloud demanded of her.  
  
"Now is not the time Champion."  
  
"I'm not a champion, just a soldier." Cloud raised his sword once more, a proud gesture against his enemy.  
  
If not for her emotional detachment, Jenova would have been amused, however she delivered her response with an severe cold. "If you are not the definition of champion, than what should you be? 'Dreamer' perhaps?"  
  
Without warning to him, Cloud was lost in an immense massing pressure from within his own mind. The Buster sword in his hands clattered to the ground as his surroundings melted into darkness; everything except Jenova. Another waking dream had taken him.  
  
"So Dreamer, here you are." Jenova's voice rang like church bells through his mind. Cloud attempted to speak, but his throat was numb, detached from his brain, and would not respond, he could only listen to the ambiguous words of the Crisis.  
  
She continued her riddled message. "The limbo of the self. The plain you created yourself, to lock away the experiences of your own existence. Here you are."  
  
She flickered out of existence, only to materialize behind his frozen body. She put her hands on either side of his head, and lightly ran her fingers across the side of his face. "You've been finding yourself here more often than not. You can't lie to me here, I know you have been." With that, she forced Cloud's head back, looking straight up, as she looked down into his eyes. "But you like it here don't you. It's like your home; you yourself, Dreamer, spending a long, long while locked away here while your guise held it's grip. Watching. Waiting. Wanting."  
  
Cloud closed his eyes, the only thing he could do to escape her desolate flames.  
  
"Well, I too, have a dark place. Does that surprise you Dreamer?" She continued, knowing he could do nothing to stop her from doing so. "I feel a certain connection with you, odd considering I really feel nothing at all."  
  
Cloud's mind was reeling, the things she was openly confiding in him, sounding like they could be the real truth.  
  
"I connect with you because I too, once lived in my dark place. We are more alike that you know Dreamer."  
  
Cloud opened his eyes at that, he stared into her eyes, an attempt to fight her hold over him.  
  
"You want to speak, but I will not let you now. You must listen to what I have to say."  
  
Cloud gave in and simply allowed her to do as she pleased.  
  
"I can see it in your eyes, your power, like mine, glowing inside your very essence. You know what it is inside, the fire. You feel it when you hold this..." She leans down and takes his Buster Sword from out of the abyss and holds it aloft. "....You feel the urge to destroy, like acid through your veins...." Jenova said, putting the blade down. She pulled Cloud over and he fell softly to his back, like drifting through water until he was upon the ground, with Jenova crouched over top of him. The first expression Cloud had ever seen upon her face; intense hatred.  
  
"...Because you and I are one and the same."  
  
Suddenly Jenova's attention drew away from Cloud as a new presence could be felt emanating from the darkness. Intense light cut through the ink and in a flash of brilliant white, almost triumphantly, through a gaping hole in the black fabric that was the dream, a blue eyed girl in a long pink dress stepped through the void into existence. She looked solemnly upon Cloud, before turning her radiant eyes to Jenova, who rose to her feet, bewildered by what was transpiring.  
  
"What are you?" Jenova demanded.  
  
The pink ghost smiled as new light flooded out around her, engulfing her image from behind until Cloud could no longer make out anything at all. Even though he had lost his place in reality, he found himself once more losing his way in his dream. He seemed to be drifting silently through a blank white plain, aimlessly the sensation of movement, was about him but no difference could be seen in the blankness.  
  
'She saved me.... again.' He thought as he hung in the air.  
  
"Lazarus." A soft voice spoke from everywhere.  
  
"Aeris?" He asked to the absence.  
  
There was silence for a while, but a sense of intensity was all about him. Then her voice rang clearly in his mind. "Cloud.... You have to go back."  
  
"Go back where? What's going on?! Aeris. please." Cloud pleaded to her.  
  
"The water, Cloud..... to the Cetra Lazarus."  
  
"Aeris!!" Cloud screamed as he felt her presence slipping away.  
  
"I'm sorry." She managed to say one last time.  
  
"AERIS!!!!!!" Cloud screamed at the top of his lungs, the white reality seeming to shatter as he sprang up in bed.  
  
Tifa and Barret were suddenly beside him, restraining him to the bed as he thrashed about uncontrollably. When he realized that he was aboard the Highwind, he settled down, and finally took notice that he was amongst his friends.  
  
"What happened...?" he finally mustered.  
  
Barret and Tifa exchanged dim glances, before Barret replied: "You don't want to know."  
  
Cloud tried to sit up, but Barret held him down. "Yes, I do."  
  
Tifa squeezed Cloud's hand, her palm was sweaty; she had been holding his hand for a long time. "Cloud. get some sleep." She said, as she leaned closer towards him and gave him a little hug. "...Your going to need it."  
  
"I'm fine, really... just tell me what happened!" Cloud spoke over her shoulder.  
  
Barret shook his head in disbelief, as he turned and walked out of the cabin where Cloud was resting, as he opened the door he saw Yuffie with Red and Cid just outside the door. Yuffie gave him a little wave, before the door shut behind Barret.  
  
Tifa's nerves were a little shaky as she spoke. "Cloud. Jenova.."  
  
"Uh-huh...." Cloud urged her to continue.  
  
"Whatever happened after you fell.... she went mad." Tifa slowly said as she drew away.  
  
"A lot of people died today Cloud. We tried to stop her but, we had to run. We grabbed you and ran."  
  
Cloud was blunt. "What happened at the Golden Saucer today?"  
  
Tifa slowly raised her eyes to look him in the eyes, her own shifting with deep emotion with her memories being triggered by his request. "She destroyed it."  
  
"Destroyed what?"  
  
"The Golden Saucer. Something happened and she lost control and burned everything."  
  
"What??" Cloud was astonished. "How many people..."  
  
"Only three ships made it off.... us, a small freight shuttle filled with civilians, and Reeve took control of another Shinra vessel; everyone else died."  
  
Cloud didn't know what to say, but something told him what needed to be done. "Tell Cid we're going back to the water."  
  
Tifa was puzzled. "What?"  
  
"I've got a date to keep." 


	8. Where Life and Death Meet

EIGHT: "Where Life and Death Meet"  
  
"I'm Ruined! I don't believe it! I never thought this day would come!!!" Dio shrieked as he entered the bridge of Reeve's commandeered vessel. "I don't know how, but I know it's all that Cloud Strife's fault! Trouble follows that man!!!"  
  
Reeve turned around the meet him. "I assure you, today has been a great loss for a lot of people, you will be reimbursed as best as I can possibly muster. You and I are partners after all."  
  
"How can you be so calm!? If you hadn't shown up I bet that 'Jemima' woman would never have shown her face!" Dio took a breath, but realized he had made his point when Reeve ordered a sentry to silence him if he did not stop.  
  
"You've made your point I see." Reeve stated. "I've told you you'd be paid back."  
  
The sentry lowered his weapon as Dio spoke more calmly. "Well thank you, Reeve. So what is on the agenda next? I hope you plan on mounting a counter measure."  
  
"No. I'm not sending anyone else after that monster." Reeve stated immediately. "As far as I am concerned, Shinra is pulling out of this ordeal. My predecessors were notorious for seeking revenge and look where they are now. I won't have it."  
  
"Then what are you planning?" Dio seemed a little let down.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Nothing?!"  
  
"Nothing. That's right." Reeve turned around to look out of the bridge view screen. "I'm leaving the next move to someone who knows what they are doing."  
  
"Oh no... your not leaving this in that Mercenary's hands are you?"  
  
"He's been down this road before." Reeve said.  
  
Dio walked over to an empty console and sat down in the chair and swiveled around, leaning on the back. "Where is that Avalanche anyway?"  
  
"They didn't inform me, but the Highwind changed course about five minutes ago. There's no telling where they are now." Reeve answered.  
  
"And where are we going?"  
  
"We are going to Midgar. We're going to be laying low for awhile. I have other means currently keeping an eye on our pressing business."  
  
Meanwhile aboard the Highwind II, everyone has gathered in the meeting room by the request of Cloud so he could explain what happened to him while he was away.  
  
"She opened up to me, when she was inside my head. She told me some disturbing things about herself and she even accused me of being like her." Cloud ended the first half of his retelling allowing for questions to be raised.  
  
Tifa took the opportunity. "She was saying something about your sight, before you blacked out.... Maybe she's referring to the Jenova viral cells in your body?"  
  
"I wouldn't doubt it. She spoke quite a bit about a fire burning inside." Cloud added.  
  
"Heh, that 'splains her creepy eyes." Barret said with an over emphasized shiver.  
  
"So what are WE gonna do 'bout this weird bitch?!" Cid exclaimed from the opposite end of the table.  
  
"I don't know, but I think the answer is under Crater Lake."  
  
"What makes you think the answer is down there??" Yuffie asked. "I mean we don't even know what that place IS, let alone whether or not there is anything there."  
  
Cloud stood up and began to circle the table slowly. As he made his way past the first chair to his left, where Tifa sat he took a deep breath of relaxation, before he began the second half of his dream. "After Jenova had accused me of being one with her, something strange happened. In my dream I had another visitor."  
  
"Lemme guess..." Barret cut him off, but Cloud cut him to the chase.  
  
"Aeris."  
  
Barret was a little confused. "Huh.... I was gonna say Sephiroth."  
  
Cloud continued his walk around the table, past Barret and Yuffie and Cid until he finally reached Red XIII who sat beside Cloud's original seat. "It was definitely Aeris. She told me to find the Cetra..... 'Lazarus'."  
  
"The Cetra Lazarus?" Red questioned.  
  
"That's right." Cloud reassured him. "Aeris said I had to go back to the Water."  
  
Tifa was openly worried. "Are you sure it's not a trap? What if Jenova just used her to get a point across?"  
  
Cloud again made his way back to his seat and leaned over the table towards Tifa. "I'm willing to take that chance."  
  
"Seems a bit risky, going down there right now, right?" Cid voiced his concern. "I mean hell, We don't know where that Crisis Girl is at and what state she's in either."  
  
"I'm not asking you all to come with me. But I need to go, and I need your help to get there." Cloud sat back in his chair, ending the debate.  
  
"Well we're not at Crater Lake yet, so we have some time to think about this." Cid said.  
  
"I've already made up my mind, but if any of you want to come you'd better decide before we get there. I'm leaving right away." Cloud said as he left the room.  
  
A little while later Tifa found herself in her room onboard the Highwind. She had thrown herself onto her bed, facing the bare metal ceiling of the tiny chamber. She turned her head to the small night stand where she had left the odd Mako-scented flower and noticed it had fallen to the floor. She rolled over onto her side and felt around for the bloom, she picked it up and held it between her forefingers.  
  
'Still here, I see.' She thought to herself, but she looked down at the tiny flower and noticed a difference right away. The flower had begun to wilt. Only a little bit but as she beheld the dying thing, it rapidly began to degrade and withered up in her hands until it was a brown fizzled up stem. "What does this mean.?" she said softly to herself as she closed her hand gently around the now dead blossom.  
  
She got up and took it immediately to Cloud's room next door. She knocked on the door and after a moment, Cloud asked her to come in. She hesitated a little, but after a moment she entered to find Cloud laying in bed as well, his eyes fixed on her Following her as she made her way inside. "Cloud?"  
  
"Tifa?" Cloud asked, noticing she was carrying something in her hand. "What's that?"  
  
She opened her palm, and revealed the decayed flower to him. "The flower from Aeris is dead now. It just fell apart in my hands."  
  
"It is a sign." Cloud reassured her. "She's still around, we just can't see her."  
  
"I'm beginning to think so....." Tifa admitted. "What do you think this Lazarus thing is?"  
  
"I don't know." Cloud also admitted. "But I'm going to find out."  
  
"We're going to find out."  
  
Cloud sat up. "Tifa?"  
  
"I'm coming with you. Remember in Kalm I told you I would feel horrible if I let you do something stupid and I didn't do anything to help you?"  
  
"Yeah... You don't have to explain yourself Tifa." Cloud reassured her.  
  
'Maybe I do...' Tifa thought as she lightly patted Cloud's hand that sat nearest to her, reassuring him of her devotion to his well being.  
  
Some time later, Cloud Cid and Tifa climbed into the hatch of the sub as it floated just underneath the low-flying Highwind. As they settled in that familiar red hue lit the compartment. Cloud tightened the hatch before he sat in the same place he had last time. Tifa took the bench across from him and Cid was manning the controls. The same levers and switches were set again and this time Cid knew what was to be expected and had came prepared. He flicked an overhead switch and the obscure darkness was illuminated by bright floodlights, much more revealing than the Submarines own tracking beams. As the ship passed through the small entryway into the ancient structure once more, the new light revealed much more.  
  
Beyond the confines of the web structure that directed their course to the docking bay, Cid, Tifa and Cloud marveled at the immense towers of crystalline materia. Giant crags of each colour sprang raw and unrefined out from the walls, twisting and connecting with each other, in some places combining to create new colours, oranges, pinks and golds.  
  
Cloud stared out the portside porthole, awestruck with the raw magnificence of what they were all beholding. "Yuffie's gonna hate herself for not coming this time...." He mumbled.  
  
Tifa was too busy trying to burn everything she saw into her memory to say anything, instead she made a sort of "unhh-huhhh-huh" sound instead. Cid almost lost control of the sub trying to really get a hold on what he was looking at but managed to correct himself before any trouble aroused.  
  
When finally they had surfaced in the sub-terrain docking bay. Cloud spun the hatch and released it with a push. Immediately the smell of centuries old stale air rushed them. Cloud breathed in a lungful of the musty substance and coughed a few times as he poked his blonde locks out of the doorway. Even the sound of their footsteps on the rungs climbing down the side of the submarine reverberated multiple times through the round area.  
  
Cloud held his sword in hand as he stood and looked up at the massive architecture of the long lost Cetra. "This is some docking bay...." He commented to himself, his words bouncing off every surface.  
  
"You were saying something about this being like Cetra Midgar?" Tifa mused.  
  
Cloud turned his attention to her. "I stand corrected."  
  
Cid took out a cigarette, but after taking a long look around from atop the sub, he put it behind his ear, deciding that now was not the time or place. "Well, you two go on ahead... I'm staying here for a bit. It's overwhelmin' me."  
  
Cloud and Tifa looked around the room one last time as they made their way towards the archway leading into the next chamber. As they left the room Cid sighed "Awww man...." To himself in awe as he took in everything the room had to offer. Tifa pulled her gloves tight as she made her way from one room to the next as Cloud held the Buster Sword tightly; ready for any sign of danger about them, but as they progressed through the almost dreamlike halls of the Lazarus structure they found nothing.  
  
They saw nothing out of the ordinary, yet everything they beheld was out of the ordinary. Although no danger slept within the confines of the Lazarus, Cloud and Tifa both could feel a haunting presence, watching from beyond the walls, trapped within moments passed.  
  
"Do you feel that?" Tifa asked. "Like the feeling I get in Shell City."  
  
"I'm sure these walls are talking; We just can't hear it." Cloud replied as he wiped his hand along the surface revealing an intricate etched pattern, the language of the Cetra that was carved into everything.  
  
"It feels sad here." She added.  
  
"I'm sure many people spent their final hours here." He looked to the corners of the hallway in which they stood and took note of the small pile of scattered bones blanketed underneath a millennium of particulate dust. "But I don't feel sad here. It's a feeling of hope."  
  
Tifa smirked a bit. "What do possibly think is down here?"  
  
"Dunno. Maybe nothing, but she did tell me this is where I needed to be."  
  
"Cloud..." Tifa sighed. "Do you believe Jenova?"  
  
He stopped in his tracks. "I don't know what to believe. Maybe when I told you earlier she said I was like her, I made it seem.... like a pale comparison."  
  
Tifa turned around to meet Cloud. "And it isn't?"  
  
"It's possible that maybe I am.... like her."  
  
"No it isn't! Just because you have her virus in your blood doesn't change who you are."  
  
Cloud drew closer to Tifa, letting his guard down from the current circumstances. "Do you even remember last year?"  
  
Tifa stood against him. "Of course I do! Who do you think I am?" She exclaimed with a furled brow.  
  
Cloud became intense. "Who do I think you are? Who do you think I am? A year ago I was an Ex-member of SOLDIER named Zack!! Jenova messes with your mind. If you don't believe it can happen to me then just look at Sephiroth!"  
  
"Sephiroth is different." Tifa argued.  
  
"No he's not. True his past was a little messed up, but before he was a Soldier he was just your average person. The he went nuts. There's no telling what Jenova was feeding him."  
  
"What are you saying? You think your gonna become Sephiroth now?"  
  
"No... I'm just saying that Jenova can really screw with you."  
  
"IS she screwing with you Cloud, huh?" Tifa asked Cloud point blank.  
  
"A lot of what she was saying made a lot of sense to me. Some of it was even true." Cloud admitted. "Maybe she is."  
  
"Goddammit, what are you two arguing over now?" Cid yelled as he came around the corner. "I can here you two all through this place. Settle down! You sound worse than Shera and me on a good day!!"  
  
Cloud and Tifa realized they had gotten a little careless, drawn into their disagreement.  
  
"Listen, I'm sorry Tifa. I didn't mean to get so mad." Cloud apologized  
  
Tifa shook his shoulder. "I'm sorry too. Geez.... this place really brings the emotion out."  
  
Cid shook his head and despite his previous attempt at respect, he lit up another cigarette forgetting about the one left behind his ear. "Well, let's get on with this folks, shall we?" He cut through them and entered into the next room.  
  
Finally then through all of the wonders of the undersea structure, they came upon the core of it's very purpose. The room in the center of it's mass housed a peculiar device. The device itself was a raised platform, an outline of a body, almost like a sacrifice was etched into the top. From this platform shot several different streams of coloured Materia, smelted into the floor. These came out like rays and they climbed the walls and extended out through small passages cut into the roof.  
  
The room itself was aligned perfectly with the magnetic poles of the planet, and four liquid streams of pure lifestream ran from the outer walls and each flowed underneath the platform.  
  
Cloud entered first and stood before the raised section. "I guess this is the Lazarus. Whatever it is."  
  
Tifa made her way carefully around to the other side of the rectangular altar. "Aeris didn't happen to drop any clues about what to do, did she?"  
  
Cloud shrugged. "I was hoping it'd be some kind of weapon we could use against Jenova, but I don't see how this could be used."  
  
Cid spoke his mind jovially. "Heh, we could strap'er down to that tabletop there and cut her open... huh?" he joked with a puff and the over exaggerated motion of repeated knife slashes.  
  
"Right.... I'd be glad to tear her a new one." Tifa said, slightly amused.  
  
They were caught off guard by a new voice, detached from the world, and which spoke from the walls. "I've waited a long time for this day." The voice spoke. Cloud drew his sword but found no one as the voice continued. "This is the Cetra Lazarus. The most important discovery of our people."  
  
Tifa beckoned to the other voice. "What is it?!"  
  
"The Lazarus is the connection." It replied.  
  
"Huh? Connection to what?" Cid threw his arms out to his sides. "I really wish all these damned ancient people'd stop talkin' in riddles."  
  
"This is the place where life and death meet." The fourth presence clarified.  
  
Cid ran his hand over his hair. "Oh, that makes sense." He replied with a sarcastic shake of his head.  
  
"What does that mean? We can connect to the other side here?" Tifa tried to make sense of things.  
  
Cloud hand his hand over the flat platform, brushing off a surprisingly little amount of settled dirt. "How?" He asked, without taking his eyes from the etchings on the surface he had uncovered.  
  
The voice continued. "One must give themselves to the void in order to subsist with the fallen."  
  
"So in other words, your telling us the only way to get in touch with the dead, is to kill ourselves using this 'Lazarus', right?" Cloud was growing impatient.  
  
The other presence did not answer right away, it seemed to leave the room, however a moment later it could be felt, present within the walls again. "One must give themselves to the void. A leap of faith one must take."  
  
Cloud sighed. "I still don't like the sound of that."  
  
There was no answer.  
  
Tifa stepped forward. "maybe you're asking the wrong question..." she said softly, before asking one herself. "How does the Lazarus work?"  
  
The voice began to speak in another language. "Stin Jil-kun vesinsta fristew, kilontra Lazarus vex conatta-duun. Fristew tor-haijia laore kun gelen sealera."  
  
"Whoa.... whoa, can you translate that?" She asked a little confused.  
  
"First one must prepare the mind. The Lazarus begins the process of slowing one's life rate down to a very slow speed, allowing the body to release the spirit to the promised land."  
  
"So you fool your body into thinking your dead." Tifa spoke aloud as the idea was drawn out for her by the host.  
  
"How'd you expect to get back?? I mean hell, once your ghost leaves ya, it's time to say good-night, am I right?" Cid questioned.  
  
"The Lazarus keeps the body alive." Came the words.  
  
"How do you get back?" Cloud asked.  
  
"That is up to the self."  
  
There was a feeling of uneasiness in Tifa as Cloud finally spoke: "I'm going to do it." She didn't like the chances, considering he was risking his own ghost, on the word of another ghost. Traveling into the Lifestream itself was a puzzling experience, and actually going in to seek out one specific soul willingly seemed to be an impossibility. "Cloud are you sure you know what your doing? This Lazarus thing has been sitting down here for a long time.... what if something doesn't work right?"  
  
"The guide said itself, 'A leap of faith must be taken'." Cloud said as he pulled himself up onto the hand crafter platform. "You've gotta put your trust into me. If I leave, I may not want to come back otherwise." He joked.  
  
"Don't joke about that.... I...." Tifa warned him hesitantly.  
  
"What? You... what?" Cloud asked, but inside he already knew what she was going to say.  
  
"Nothing. It's nothing." Tifa lied.  
  
Cid took a long puff on his cigarette before he made up his mind on the whole thing. "Listen, Cloud... Do what you have to, you've got my full support."  
  
"Thanks." Cloud said. "Now Tifa.... I came all this way for this reason. I'm not leaving yet. I need an answer. You do understand, right Tifa? It's my last chance. and our only chance."  
  
Although ever ounce of her was screaming not to let him go, she swallowed her pride finally and accepted that this is what Cloud wanted. To have this one last slim chance to meet with his truly beloved. "Go, Cloud Strife." She looked a little sick. "Go see her."  
  
Cloud took Tifa's hand in his own and cracked a smile. "Don't worry Tifa.... I promise I'll come back. You hear me? You know I'm good to my word." He said as he laid down on his back, aligning his body into the position marked upon the surface.  
  
Tifa squeezed his hand hard as Cloud announced to the disembodied Cetra host that he would be entering the Promised land. She put her other hand over his and kneeled down close to his face. Cloud turned his head to look at her one last time before the procedure began and she looked back into his eyes, suddenly portraying a warm, inviting gaze in her own as she thought to herself. 'Come back to us Cloud, come back... to me."  
  
Cloud silently nodded as the sparkle in his eyes, moments before locked into her soul, emptied, becoming nothing more than a mirror. She bowed her head, a few tears welling up silently in her reflection. 


	9. The Promised Land

NINE: "The Promised Land"  
  
A wave of unfamiliarity washed over Cloud as he became aware of his existence. Not knowing whether he was encapsulated in a dreamscape or lost in a foreign land, nothing he took in was familiar, it was like he was using his eyes for the first time. When he finally found his bearings he discovered her was laying on his back, only now he was propped up against something odd, a very old and worn apple tree.  
  
A calm blue sky, speckled with cloud cover looked down over him from above, a hint of pink floating in the distance on the endless green horizon that lay before him in every direction. The fields were alive with long swaying grass, small white flowers blossomed everywhere, and the sound of animals could be heard in the distance. He looked up at the tree, freshly grown apples were hanging there, each one flawless and impeccably perfect. He found a fallen one laying beside him on the ground that seemed to call out to him 'eat me!'. He picked it up in his hand and after a careful inspection of it's surface he threw caution to the wind, which was a perfect calm breeze, and took a bite out of it's ruby red skin. It was the best apple he had ever had.  
  
He rose to his feet and searched around the base of the huge tree trunk and watched the grass in every direction. Wherever Cloud found himself he was there alone and very, very far away from anywhere he recognized. However this didn't seem to bother him, a feeling of immense happiness was all about him. In a strange buzz of glee he began to chuckle to himself lightly, before breaking into a mighty fit of laughter.  
  
"This is some dream!" He exclaimed to the wind.  
  
Sitting back down by the trunk of the tree he bit into the apple again. It was even better than before. Some time passed and Cloud dosed off by the tree. The weather was warm, a ideal mid-summer's day and even asleep it absorbed his mind. The perfection; could it be any better?  
  
"Progress here could not be better." Reeve said with a satisfied grin. He looked over Midgar, from far above the city in the revamped Shinra headquarters which was currently being remodeled by an extensive team of workers. "At this rate, Midgar should be fully operational by the end of the year!"  
  
"It's good to see that my money has not been squandered carelessly away." Dio chimed in as he appeared behind Reeve. As he approached the railing where the president stood, a team of workers busied themselves in the distance installing a new lighting track along the walls. "This will be quite the decadent palace; the perfect environment for the scheming of schemes!"  
  
"Scheming?" Reeve questioned. "I'm trying to rebuild this city in a different light, not to try and rule over it with an iron grip."  
  
"Right. If you can ever find a working fuel source, that is." Dio added.  
  
"The fuel I've developed works fine. It's been tested."  
  
"The Golden Saucer was a valuable test, I suppose; but do you really think you can produce enough to run Midgar?"  
  
Reeve was adamant. "Even now, the Junon facility is running constantly. If everything goes according to schedule, by the time Midgar is ready to be activated again, my team should have been able to create enough fuel to run Midgar for at least two years."  
  
"In the meantime, you can busy yourself making more, right?"  
  
"Exactly."  
  
Cloud was roused back consciousness by the crisp snap of an apple being bitten into. He opened his eyes and examined his surroundings, when no sound was heard again he closed his eyes gently; then he heard a slight laughing from the opposite side of the apple tree. Cloud sat up, but before he could move from where he sat, a voice spoke to him.  
  
"This must be a very strange experience for you." The soft voice spoke, openly amused. "But you can't be sleeping on the job, You've got things to do still!!"  
  
"Aeris... When did you get here?" Cloud asked. "Wherever here is."  
  
"I've been here for awhile, watching over you." Aeris replied, the amusement in her voice undiminished. "I have been for a long time!"  
  
"I know." Cloud said. "You've been in my dreams."  
  
Aeris poked her head around the corner, her long curls bobbing around like springs. She crawled around the tree trunk until she sat beside Cloud where she planted herself neatly, leaning her head on his shoulder. "It was hard to do."  
  
Cloud touched her hand, it was real. She grabbed a hold of his when she spoke. "I haven't just been in your dreams, you know, Cloud..."  
  
Cloud looked into Aeris' eyes, they sparkled with a brilliant energy, something no person ever possessed. "I got it, you know. the flower." he spoke softly a great love coming through in his voice, like a dream come to life. He held nothing back for he knew this was the only chance he had. "How did you do it?"  
  
"Dreams are hard enough... A real flower, took everything I had." She admitted, looking back into him. "I wanted you to know I was there for you."  
  
"I can't believe it, I thought you were haunting me.... I tried to escape you."  
  
"I know, that's why I did it, I needed to give you something to really remind you."  
  
Cloud felt a little sad, remembering what Tifa had shown him. "The flower has wilted, you know."  
  
"Everything dies, Cloud." Aeris said solemnly.  
  
Cloud remembered where he was. "Everything dies..." He muttered to himself. "This is the Promised Land, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes.... and no." she said.  
  
"....And no?"  
  
"This is the Promised Land, for my people.... the afterlife; the Lifestream. However to you... this is not exactly so. To you, Cloud this is your afterlife - your heaven."  
  
"If that's true, then how can we be together?" Cloud asked her.  
  
"Spirits can walk freely, but everyone sees it in their own way."  
  
Cloud grinned a bit. "But you ate one of my apples!"  
  
"It's.... complicated. The rules have been bent a little bit, you being here now." She smiled.  
  
"Aeris...... I have to tell you something." Cloud unhooked her from his arm and stood up, waling away from the tree until he was illuminated by an intense light from the sky.  
  
"Cloud...I...." Aeris raised her arm, hand out to him. A sight already beheld by Cloud once before in a passing dream.  
  
Cloud turned and spoke. "Aeris... I'm sorry."  
  
"You don't have to...." Aeris began, but Cloud raised a finger to his face before he continued.  
  
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you..... and I'm sorry I didn't tell you this while I had the chance." He took a breath. "I loved you Aeris, I still do...."  
  
She smiled. "I already knew, Cloud. I always knew; but the circumstances are different now."  
  
"Yeah.... I'm afraid your right."  
  
"It's nothing to hurt yourself over."  
  
Cloud looked away from her his attention looking out over the green horizon.  
  
Aeris rose to her feet, angelic in her fluent motions. "She's with you now." she said with a smile.  
  
"Yeah... She couldn't let me go alone."  
  
"No.... You don't understand, do you?"  
  
Cloud was at peace, although cold to the touch. He slept on, his mind gone far away, yet still connected he could feel his hand in Tifa's grip. Tifa held it tightly in both hands, as she sat upon the altar of the Lazarus leaning over Cloud, waiting patiently for any sign of life to stir in him.  
  
Cid was becoming agitated, the grandeur of the Lazarus complex had worn on him and that faint sense of claustrophobia was settling in. He paced back and forth behind Tifa who was solely fixated on Cloud, as if trying to take an X-ray of his body with her bare eyes. She wasn't talking, other than small sighs she released every once in awhile, and even they were becoming few and far between. Cid was on his third cigarette before something snapped inside of him.  
  
"I need to take a piss." Cid announced out loud.  
  
With that, Tifa snapped out of her trance-like stare. "...What?"  
  
"Nothin' Listen, I'll be back in a while, I'm gonna go.... look around." Cid answered; thrusting his hands into his pockets as he walked out of the room.  
  
Tifa shook her head a bit before turning her attention back to Cloud. "Um..... Lazarus?" She called out to the voice that had not been present for a while.  
  
It seeped into the walls, a feeling saturation filling the room. "Yes?"  
  
"How is Cloud doing?"  
  
"The connected one has established a link in the other side." The voice stated before sinking out of the room.  
  
Tifa sighed and squeezed his hand a little tighter. She was glad he had this chance. However somewhere not so deep inside of her, something was bubbling out of control. Feelings of deep longing reared themselves in her heart and that feeling raced through her blood.  
  
"Cloud..." She spoke to his empty shell. There was no response, but at this point she didn't care. It eased her, in a sense. "Do you remember the first night we talked in Nibelheim, at the well? The night we made the promise." She smiled warmly, remembering that little child she barely knew. "You promised to come back and save me if I were in trouble. You stuck to your word. That time stuck with you, even when you didn't know who you really were..."  
  
She pondered that for awhile. "It was that special to you.... I was that special."  
  
"For a long time I thought you were lying. I didn't remember it and I couldn't trust you. I'm sorry for that - it was wrong. Maybe that's what kept me away in the beginning." She rubbed the back of his hand. "That and you were a jerk.... back then." She grinned wider. "But all this time has passed now, too long Cloud.... I can't stand it anymore. I say I know you better than you know yourself, but I can't read your feelings for me."  
  
She leaned over him, looking into his face. "I need to know how you feel about me." She ran her finger along his cheek and up the curve of his jaw. "Do you love me?... Cloud? Do you feel the same way I do?" She closed her eyes gently. "A lot has happened since that night we met.... I didn't think much of you back then, but now Cloud, your all I ever think about..." She opened her hazel eyes, she moved in, slowly drawing towards his sleeping face, her lips only a fraction of a millimeter from his own, quivering as she bared her feelings. Tifa took a deep breath, almost tasting the soldier before her on the air before whispering something inaudibly to him.  
  
Meanwhile back on the surface, a distraught Jenova contemplates her next course of action.  
  
'The time has come, champion or not. The circle MUST be drawn and not even that one will prevent it from being fulfilled.' She thought. 'My infection has no effect on the new infestation; they have evolved further than I had hoped. I have slept too long.' She looked up, from her knees, she had her arms wrapped around them as she sat crouched in the burning walls of the golden saucer. 'There is more than one way to deal with them, after all.' She stood up as her mind raced. 'Destroying this many myself is unnecessary; If they cannot be put down with force, I shall poison their very core...' She took off from the ground and began her flight north.  
  
Cloud became frank. "So you told me to come here, why?"  
  
"I've been here for a long while now, and I've come to know a great many things about my people."  
  
Cloud nodded.  
  
Aeris continued. "I can see the world too. It's different, but I can see it. Everyone can here; Except you of course, that's a limitation of the Lazarus. I know about the Crisis from the Sky and I've talked a lot with mother and a lot of Cetra. They say the answer lays in the 'Sanctum of Knowledge'."  
  
Cloud rolled his eyes. "The Library?"  
  
Aeris chuckled innocently. "'Fraid so!"  
  
"The Library that Yuffie found?" Cloud seemed a little embarrassed. "She found the key to saving the world, great. We aren't going to live this one down."  
  
Aeris smiled. "Sometimes I'm glad I'm not around!"  
  
Cloud was only slightly amused, a slight morbidity swam over his face as he looked at Aeris. "We all miss you, you know?" He said to her.  
  
"I know, I'm sorry."  
  
Cloud leaned against the apple tree as Aeris sat down and rested her head on her knees. "So.... what is the answer?" Cloud asked her. She began to tell a story. "The Cetra couldn't stop Jenova, in the end. Their existence came down to a split second decision, you see? Two choices. They chose the wrong one. I think that the thing they could have used to stop her could do the trick - It's a special kind of materia, like Holy or Meteor."  
  
"What is it?" Cloud questioned.  
  
"Lifestream." She said. "The Lifestream Materia."  
  
"Is that possible? A materia with the power to control the source of it's own creation?"  
  
Aeris looked up at Cloud. "It's not exactly what you think."  
  
Cloud returned her glance. "Then what does it do?"  
  
"The Lifestream materia isn't normal, like Holy it can only be activated when certain circumstances have been accomplished. It allows the user to combine their essence with a soul from within the Lifestream - together the force of life itself can be unleashed. At least that is how the elders of the Cetra put it."  
  
"So what circumstances have to be met?"  
  
Aeris looked back at her knees. "This is where it gets tricky. There are two things it needs first. A chosen soul from within the lifestream... and a soul from the carrier."  
  
Cloud sat down beside her slowly. "That's why it was never used, isn't it?"  
  
"Right."  
  
Cloud sighed and thought. 'So this is it, isn't it? I use Lifestream.... and I die....' He asked her another question. "It takes my soul, what about the soul from the lifestream?"  
  
"I guess it depends on the soul." She said. "No one really knows what happens. You combine souls and after that, both souls return to the Planet."  
  
"What's it look like? The Materia?" Cloud asked.  
  
"It doesn't fit into any other category you are familiar with... It's clear. There's no colour at all, in the beginning. It changes, depending on whoever's soul is inside." She said.  
  
"Aeris.... I'm going to find it.... Are you....?"  
  
"I'm willing to give this a shot, Cloud. I'll be your chosen soul." Aeris answered him before he even asked her.  
  
Cloud felt something a little strange. A pulling sensation, like wind sucking him away. He knew his time was growing shorter.  
  
"Heh, there's so many questions I wanted to ask you, but now I can't remember them!" He admitted.  
  
She climbed to her feet, smiling. "Oh, Cloud."  
  
He remembered one of them. "What happened to Sephiroth?"  
  
She took a step back. "Sephiroth?"  
  
"Is he here?"  
  
"I don't know....." She replied.  
  
"You don't know?" Cloud felt a wave of adrenaline flow through him. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean, I don't feel his presence at all anymore. Not on the Planet or in the Lifestream - He just stopped existing. I've wondered about him for a long time. Perhaps there's an answer out there somewhere, but I don't have anything for you."  
  
Cloud shrugged it off. "I'm sure it's not important anyway, Maybe it's a good thing he doesn't exist at all anymore."  
  
"Maybe."  
  
The anti-gravity feeling Cloud had began to feel became more intense. He knew his time was up.  
  
"The Lazarus is calling me back."  
  
"It's okay. This won't be the last time we meet; I'll be seeing you soon."  
  
Cloud remembered about the materia. "Heh, yeah, I'll be seeing you. I'm sure everyone will be glad to get a chance to see you again."  
  
"I hope so; Goodbye Cloud!" She hugged him tightly. He hugged her back, something he had wanted to do for a long time. The world began to phase out of existence around him like a hologram. Aeris was still in his arms, but she was ghostly now. She spoke: "It's time to let me go." Through a wide smile, the last thing Cloud saw before he lost himself. 


End file.
